Hello Friends and Family!
I pray that you are all doing well, and we want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for taking the time to read this quick update and join us in prayer!
First of all, we’re excited to present our big news to you all: Amy is pregnant with our 4th child! We’ll be introducing our newest little one into the world in Spring of 2019. We are blessed that the Lord has allowed us to have a “full quiver” of children so close in age so that they can grow and learn and be friends together. Amy and I celebrated our 7th anniversary of marriage this past month and are blown away by God’s faithfulness to us!
With this big news also comes a busy season in our lives. Joel has been teaching a weekly Wednesday night class through the book of Joshua to some of SGWM’s Bible College students in South Asia. It is such an honor for him to play a role in training up future leaders for Christ in a country where biblical resources are scarce and the need for the Gospel is great.
In addition, Joel is going to be attending our church’s School of Ministry every Thursday night for 3 1/2 hours for the next 8 months. This is a great opportunity for him, as he has never had any “official” ministry training. He will also be acting as a pastoral mentor for others taking the class in the ins and outs of ministry. Needless to say, between those two things, family, leading Life Groups and Worship Ministry, teaching Young Adults every Friday night, and running two big upcoming church events, our plates are quite full!
On the home front, Maggie is beginning her homeschool/charter program, and is totally nailing it! We couldn’t be more proud of her, and of course Harrison can’t help but join in on the learning action occasionally. Amy continues to be an amazing mom and excels in the role of teacher for all of our kids. And finally, we know many of you were praying for us in past months for Jude (1) to sleep better through the night. His sleep schedule has been great for many weeks now, so thank you for your prayers; God answered them!
We ask that you keep the following in prayer:
- For a safe and healthy pregnancy for both the new baby and for Amy, as she juggles the difficulties of pregnancy with raising our three others while I’m at work during the days.
- For continued financial support. We are praying that the Lord provides the resources and opportunity for larger housing for us (specifically, we’d love a house with a yard for the kids to play in). This seems impossible in Southern California, but we trust God will provide us with it if He sees fit for us to have that for His glory.
- For increased energy and balance with all of the ministry on our plates. We want to do not just many things for the Lord, but we want to do many things well for His glory while maintaining a healthy family life.
- Please pray for Maggie (as well as Harrison and Jude) to continue to develop a love for learning, and for Amy and I to receive an ever-increasing vision and plan from God for educating our children and making them disciples of Christ
- Please pray for the many upcoming opportunities for Joel to travel for SGWM. He is planning on, Lord-willing, three fairly big trips in 2019, so we need wisdom on what opportunities he should take and for additional financial support to go on the trips the Lord would have him go on. (Hopefully more details to come on those opportunities in future updates!)
Thank you all again for your continued prayers and support, it means the world to us! And I know we usually end our updates with this, but we sincerely ask that you would respond to us with any prayer requests of your own. We love you all and are delighted to partner in prayer with you, not just your prayers for us, but our prayers together for the Gospel.
All the Best for His Glory!
Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, and Jude
If you’d like to become a financial partner with us as Joel continues to work as a missionary with SGWM’s home office, please click the button below, OR you can mail a check written out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Joel Garcia support” in the memo section to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873. Thank you all for your support and prayers!
