It’s real…

When I wrote to you all last summer while I was at the School of Missions in Mexico, I think you could tell that the Lord was stirring my heart for the Great Commission. I felt a burden and a conviction to go to the Unreached. This burden and conviction has stayed and grown by the grace of God. This past year, as you all know, I have been apart of the Missions Training School. The Lord has grown me in His word and sanctified me as I took this step of faith. This summer, being a leader at the School of Missions in Mexico, it’s different. At the Missions Training School, we take vision tours. A vision tour is a trip to a specific region of the world with the purpose of scouting the land and seeking the Lord to know if He wants you to serve there. As a part of my partnership with Saving Grace and my sending church, Calvary Chapel South LA, I have prayerfully decided to be a part of the vision tour to the Middle East with the specific purpose of getting 4 months of cross-cultural experience on the Field, among the Unreached and waiting on the Lord. I am open if He calls me to serve full time in any of these countries. As you pray, the Lord provides opportunity to go. He has done this for me. Here’s where it becomes real…

“Then Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, ‘Go up this way into the South, and go up to the mountains, and see what the land is like: whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, few or many…”. 
Numbers 13:17-18

Now is the time, I am actually going to the 10/40 window! The enemy does not want me to go, of course. I know this by the spiritual warfare that has hit me when making this decision. The Lord showed me the reality of who He is and how the enemy tries to distort that, and I won’t let the enemy win. If we constantly let fear guide us, we will never go and do what God is calling us to do. Fear is not of the Lord. I have laid my life on the altar. I have died to myself, I live for Christ and no one else, not even myself. This must happen daily. The second we leave a little room for the enemy to work, he takes it and runs with it.

Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 
Colossians 3:2-3

With the Lord giving me peace about going and training in the 10/40, I am excited! I will be training with missionaries on the field in the Middle East for one month. From there, I will go to South Asia for three months to continue training. Part of my training as a cross-cultural missionary is to experience the tensions of moving to a new culture. In my Monday’s Culture Training Class I have been learning that as a missionary, we will never be 100% as the people we minister to, but we can be like them. That’s what Jesus did when He came to the world. And for love, we learn, we ask and we become like them. After prayerfully considering it, Saving Grace and my church Calvary Chapel South LA, have agreed to partner with me to visit the Middle East and South Asia to go and spend months of cultural and ministry training. Long-term and seasoned missionaries will be pouring into my life and giving me a glimpse of the reality of living in an Unreached Country. (There are currently 3.2 billion people in this world who have never heard the gospel. There are no churches in these areas). There, I will see the needs of the people, connect with other workers, pray over the city and people, and be waiting on the Lord as to where He wants me to go.

Here is how the School of Missions is going so far. I run social media here, so I am not in many photos, but here’s what I got!

I thank you for your continued support in my calling through your prayers, finances, love, and time. Please send me your prayer requests so I know how to be praying for you too. If you are interested in partnering with me in the work of the Gospel for the first time or in new ways, I invite you to prayerfully consider one or more of the following:

Prayer: As I spend some time in different countries, there can be a lot of fear of the unknown. Not only from me, but my family as well. Please pray for my safety as I come and go from different places. Please pray for peace for my family. Also, as I go, that I would seek Him first and be a blessing to the workers I will be staying with. Please pray that my time on these vision tours are fruitful and that He would be glorified.

Financially: My heart is that you would be apart of what God is going to do in taking the gospel to the Unreached. If you feel led to give a one time donation or monthly support, that would be a blessing to me. As of now, this financial support will cover the cost of flights, on the ground stay, language school, food, etc.

Encouragement: If you are not already signed up for my newsletter, I encourage you to sign up! This is where I give monthly updates and prayer requests, so you know what’s going on. I will be starting a group chat soon, through a secure messaging app called Signal. This is where I will be giving short more day to day updates about what I am doing and how you can keep praying. Please download the app Signal first and let me know if you would like to be in this group chat.

I appreciate every one of you! Love you all! I leave you with Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart…”.

In His Love

Alani