Greetings my dear friends and family!

I am back from Mexico! I can’t believe my six weeks at Calvary School of Missions has come to an end. The time went by incredibly fast. Although I was sad to finish the school, I’m excited to start a new season of preparing to go out as a long-term missionary. I know that the School of Missions was only the beginning of what the Lord has in store for my life! I am excited to announce that I will be interning at Saving Grace World Missions, a missions agency started by Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. As an intern, I will be taking Bible classes in order to strengthen my foundation in the Word of God. I will be learning how to prepare a Biblical message and will get to practice delivering it in front of leaders and other interns. I will also be serving in the children’s ministry! The reason for this internship is to help prepare me to serve in similar ministries when I am a part of a church plant in the near future.

Learning Surrender

My last two weeks in Mexico were filled with ministry and learning. We attended a church planting conference at Calvary Chapel Rosarito where I was able to learn from experienced church planters. While I was there, the Lord confirmed His calling on my life to be a part of a new work! Just as Paul made it his aim to preach the Gospel where Christ had not been named (Romans 15:20-21), so I know the Lord is calling me to do the same. It has been unbearably hard surrendering my plans for the future to the Lord. As many of you may know, I had been planning to move to East Africa with my best friend to serve street children and orphans. Of course, I still love the children of East Africa with all my heart and would love to be with them again, but the Lord has also been burdening my heart for the billions of people who have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ (this region of the world is known as the 10/40 window). East Africa, for the most part, is saturated with the Gospel. Of course there are still so many physical and spiritual needs there, but for the most part, the Word of God is accessible to the majority of East Africa. I desire nothing more than to be in the Lord’s will for my life. I have come to a place where I am willing to go wherever the Lord leads me. If He wants to send me to a people that have never heard of Him, then by His strength I will go! But if He wants me to return to Rwanda and pour my life into the children there, then so be it! He has a perfect plan. I must trust Him wherever He leads me. The Lord has been speaking to me through these scriptures:

“For you shall go to all whom I send you.” –Jeremiah 1:7

“I have found David the son of Jesse a man after My own heart, who will do all my will.” –Acts 13:22

“For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God…” –Acts 13:36

Surrender isn’t a one-time thing (though I wish it were!) Surrender is something we must do every moment of every day. I want to do all the Lord’s will and serve my generation by His will, just as King David did! This will require that I continually surrender to Him. If I’m honest, the idea of surrendering to Him used to be torturous to me. But when I stop and think of how He gave His life for our salvation, I am reminded of how He truly is worthy of my all. 

An Open Door

With that being said, a door has been opened for me to go on a short vision tour to the country of Jordan in late January. For quite some time now, my heart has been stirring for Muslims. Even when I was in Rwanda, my friend Nancy and I were drawn to a Muslim neighborhood and I was able to share the Gospel with a Muslim in the market.  The Lord has put it on the hearts of the leaders at Saving Grace to plant a Bible School in Jordan in order to raise up Jordanian, Syrian and Iraqi refugees as disciples of Jesus Christ with the vision of sending them out to surrounding Muslim countries to make disciples. This vision tour will be a time to see the country and the people and meet with the pastor of a small Jordanian church who is partnering with Saving Grace to start this Bible School. I will continue to update you as the time approaches and I have more details!

A Divine Appointment

There are so many stories I could share about what the Lord did in my last two weeks in Mexico, but the one I’m choosing to share is one of my favorites. We spent one afternoon serving a woman in Puerto Nuevo by cleaning her yard and putting new steps in it. My task was to clean up the trash surrounding her home and it didn’t take long to finish. There were more than enough hands working on installing the steps, so once I had finished my task I felt pretty useless and didn’t know what to do! I prayed for the Lord to give me something to do and not too long after I met a little 8 year-old girl named Britani who happened to be in the neighborhood. I started talking to her and noticed that she was sad. She then shared with me that her mother had died of an illness 2 years ago. I asked the Lord in that moment for a word of comfort to share with the girl and He gave me Psalm 56:8: “You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; are they not in Your book?” I shared this verse with Britani and she began to tear up! I know that it spoke to her heart. Thankfully, one of my leaders had brought her children’s Bible along, so I borrowed it and shared with little Britani about how Jesus came to the Earth to save us from our sins. She said it was her first time hearing any story from the Bible! She was excited to hear that Jesus will give us eternal life if we put our faith in Him. Afterwards, Britani and I played together and before parting ways I wrote her a letter of love and encouragement. She left with the biggest smile on her face! I am so thankful that God used me to share His love to this young girl grieving her mother’s loss. It was no doubt a divine appointment.

“We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” –Ephesians 2:10

I’m so excited to see what other divine appointments God has for me not only here in my country, but among the nations! 

I would LOVE to meet with you over coffee now that I’m back to share more about what the Lord did at School of Missions with you AND to hear about your summer! Please message me if you would like to meet!

Again, thank you for coming alongside me to support me in the Lord’s calling on my life! I appreciate your prayers and financial giving. I could not do it with out you. Together, we will bring the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to those who have not yet heard! 

Love,

Andrea Manor