Greetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
”For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations”
(Psalm 100:5)
Truly, God is good all the time!
December is a very exciting month for all Christians around the world to celebrate a historical event. During this Christmas season, God was so good to provide all the things that are necessary for our family and keep us blessed. Thank you, ministry partners, for your earnest prayers and financial support. We have been praying for you and your family continually. May God bless you.
One of our church members, a 29-year-old girl, testified for the Lord through water baptism. Thank God for her life and commitment!
We as a church family were engaged in different Christmas activities. There was a Christmas rally in the city . Many Hindu fanatic groups were not happy, yet, by God’s grace, we did it.
As we do every year, our church hosted a kids Christmas program (above). It is very enjoyable for the kids. We can tell by the look on their faces! Our main focus is on the non-Christian kids that attend. We share the love of Jesus along with snacks and gifts.
We did three days of Christmas caroling where we visited door to door and shared the love of Jesus. We also had a potluck dinner (above) with our church families followed by a watch night service.
As a family, we participate in all the church activities and visit some family homes to testify of the Lord and pray for them. My daughter took a certain special exam (above) for the first time. It was a good experience for her.
Prayer Requests:
Please pray for all of the kids who attended the Christmas program. Pray that God will touch their hearts so that someday they will come to the Lord.
Please pray for the sister who got baptized. May she continue to grow in the Lord. May many souls be added into God’s Kingdom through her witness.
Kindly pray for the growth of our Church.
Recently, we surveyed a piece of land for our church. Kindly pray that God will open the door to buy it.
Kindly pray for me and my family- that the Lord will use us for the expansion of His Kingdom. Also, pray for our daughter’s studies.
Thank you very much for your prayers and support!
In Him,
Pastor 3* and Family
*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.
Greetings from Mexico! In this update I am excited to tell you about a new outreach our church has begun in the new year! One of our focuses’ of 2024 is reaching and blessing our community. The center of this plan is the opening up our new Calvary Athletic Park to our friends and neighbors in Rosarito. In this update I am excited to tell you all about it.
Growing up in the Vincent Family, Sports was always a major part of our home life. My dad Mark was always our coach, my mom Diane was always our team mom, and Mitch, Matt, and I always did our best playing whatever sport was in season. (Little league baseball, JUSA soccer, and eventually basketball) We were blessed to grow up at Rose Drive Friends Church and our Pastor CW Perry loved sports so much, we had a full gymnasium and softball field on our church campus. I have many great memories growing up having fun playing sports at church! I feel blessed and honored that our church in Mexico is continuing on in that same tradition.
Our major facilities overhaul began last year as we began preparing and transforming our south parking lot, into a new multi-use athletic facility. After 3 months of hard work and generous investment, we now have three completed athletic fields filling up that large area. We have a sand volleyball court, a large basketball court, and a small soccer field. (Indoor soccer, with a 4 foot fence surrounding it to keep the soccer ball in play)
These sports courts will have numerous uses. First off, we plan on hosting tournaments and leagues throughout the year in all three sports. The teams in these leagues will be open to believers and unbelievers, people that attend our church, and those that don’t! Please keep these upcoming tournaments and sports leagues in your prayers!
Secondly, we also have the athletic fields open before and after all of our church services. We have seen this be an especially big hit with the youth. In fact, earlier this month we had a high school mission’s team visit us from California, and after joining our youth group for their Wednesday night church service, their church put together a basketball team and played the boys from our youth group. There were over 100 people packed around the court, watching this epic USA vs. Mexico hoop classic. It was a great game, and I am proud to tell you that our church boys defeated their friends from up north!
Third and finally, we plan on opening up Calvary Athletic Park to our community two days per week! During these open times, we will have one of our church staff members caring for the fields and organizing games for those in attendance!
One of the things that excites me the most is that my son Daniel is going to be helping with our church’s sports program! With his experience in our cities basketball leagues, and his many connections throughout our city, I know that God is going to use Daniel and our other team members to be a blessing to our church family and to our community!
Another great blessing of our new sports court, is it has opened up a large cemented area to expand our children’s playground. (Where our old smaller basketball court used to be!) My dad Mark kindly donated much of his old playground he had out front of his house in Silverado (Since his grandchildren have all grown up) and we had another stateside friend donate a used playground from a park and we put it all together to make a brand new (to us) expanded play area for our children!
The children at our church are having a blast with their new expanded play area, but once again, this play area will be open to our community as well. (During those same hours that Calvary Athletic Park is open!) Sports are very popular here in Mexico, but unfortunately, there are very few parks and athletic fields open to the public! We are so thankful that God has provided this new area to be a blessing not only to our church, but to our city as well!
Finally, I want to thank you once again for the privilege and honor of serving as your missionaries here in Mexico. There are many places you can invest your finances, and we feel honored and blessed that you have chosen to partner with us in this great missions work! We love you and give thanks for you!
Con mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)
Mike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel
Prayer Requests!
#1- Pray that God would bless our new Calvary Athletic Park!
#2- Pray that God will bless our church planting class as we begin the new year on February 12th!
Praise Reports!
#1- Praise God for a wonderful January Baptism with 21 new believers getting baptized!
#2- Praise God for the provision to construct our athletic fields and new playground!
For our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873
For your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries.
Thank God that He helps us do all kinds of outreach. By the grace of God, the Gospel has reached 5 new villages! We were able to spread the news of the Lord Jesus Christ to a distance of about 1100 to 1200 kilometres (680 – 746 miles).
Some of these further outreaches were done as follows:
Handed out New Testaments.
Distributed biscuits to children.
Went from house to house preaching the Gospel and praying.
Played the Jesus film in 2 new villages.
Celebrated Christmas with 300 people and also fed them lunch and preached the Gospel.
Gave gifts to the children of our church who performed Christmas dance and drama etc.
If I were to write about each outreach in detail, it would take a lot of time, so I would like to share with you about three of these outreaches.
We showed the Jesus film, despite opposition, in a very rural and untouched village that is 400 kilometers away from my home!
Thank you for your prayers. Through your prayers and by God’s grace, I was able to reach a very untouched village. It took us about 8 hours by motorbike to reach this village. It was very challenging for me to ride a bike for such a long distance for the first time, but this was to share the Good News of the Lord Jesus Christ.
When entering the village, I felt as if I had reached another world, because very rural people live there. My heart was filled with the hunger and thirst for the Lord Jesus Christ in this place. When we arrived, we did a prayer walk through the village. In the evening, we showed films in the village. People brought their blankets. Despite the cold, they watched the movie under the blankets. They sat near the fire and asked many questions about the Lord Jesus Christ. Many people asked us to pray about their problems in their homes. But some of them, who had traveled before and worked in another state, opposed the Lord Jesus Christ and started arguing. The other villagers there supported us and pacified them. Thank God that two people in this village believed in the Lord Jesus Christ!
When we were leaving, after showing the movie, it was very challenging for us to cross the bamboo bridge due to darkness. By the grace of God, we were able to reach another village safely. When we went to the next village, we were shown very good hospitality there, also. They had prepared good food for us.
The next day we showed them the Jesus Film, and people also came to watch the film in this village, as well. People sat down with their lotus flowers to watch the film and made a fire. Even in the cold, they stayed to watch until the end and it caused people to pray. In this village, people had installed big loudspeakers and had brought a sound system that they rented. I preached the Good News of the Lord Jesus Christ on the microphone. The people of the entire village, about 5,000 people, heard the Good News of the Gospel! Two people accepted the Lord Jesus Christ in this village, also. Praise God!
We had a wonderful Christmas with 300 people, Christmas dances and Christmas skits!
I thank God that like every year in the past, this year God kept all of us safe during Christmas. It was a time of joy and fun. We went to four villages before Christmas and preached the Good News, gave them New Testaments, and invited them all to come to our church on Christmas. They all came!
Together, we were about 300 people. The children danced very well during the birthday song of Jesus. After watching the play, we were able to celebrate the birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ with great joy and happiness. The children who danced and performed were also given gifts. Food was arranged for all those who came. I thank God and all of you that with your help all this was possible.
Prayer Requests:
Please pray that the people who believed in Jesus where we did outreach remain steadfast in the Lord.
Please pray that my mother’s health and bones get better.
Please pray that the people of our church will remain grounded in the faith and know God’s Word more deeply.
Please pray for our Admin’s father who is ill, may God heal him completely.
Please pray for us as we are restarting the fellowship which was stopped two months ago due to opposition. Pray that God will protect me and my church.
Please pray for my wife’s health. She has thyroid problems. May God heal her completely.
Please pray that God gives us a child.
Thanks for your love, support and partnership for the Gospel.
God bless you all!
Pastor & Mrs. 11*
*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.
I wish you much joy and blessings in this New Year! Last year was great and filled with God’s goodness. I am so thankful for each and every one of you. The fact that you are all praying for me is the biggest blessing and strength in my life. God is always faithful and I am grateful to our Lord. It gives me so much joy to see how He is using me in different districts and villages here in my area.
In my area, it is very rare to find people with Christian literature, and even more rare to see children with Christian books. Most children are exposed only to Hinduism, not to the Gospel or a story from the Bible. The Lord has given me a great burden for the children. They are the next generation. I was greatly blessed to be able to get and distribute many books that are composed of Bible stories. These books are for different ages and grades, from very young kids to teenagers. They cover stories from the Old Testament as well as the New Testament.
As I visit the villages with these books, the children are very open and excited to hear the stories. This is the first time they saw books like this, and they are able to hold them in their hands. They value these gifts.
When I visit them, I divide them into groups based on their age and grade in school. I assign a leader to each group and ask them to read out loud, so that the others who cannot read can understand.
I was also able to bring Bibles and give them to the kids who have a heart to learn the Word of God, who are also able to read and write. As I continue to visit them, I plan to spend time with these children and help them understand God’s Word.
“All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children.”
Isaiah 54:13
In one of the villages I visit regularly, there is a young girl whose family I have been ministering to. This young girl was the first in her family to give her life to the Lord. Her faith has drawn her family closer to Him. She is in 10th grade and has become very busy, but she still has an interest to serve.
I have asked her to read these stories to the younger children that are unable to read and to even help them as they pray. The children love her and pay close attention as she reads. I am praying that this young girl will continue to draw closer to the Lord and grow a heart to serve Him.
I am asking God to raise up many young men and women like her in every village I visit. It is so easy to focus on having a career and the things of life, but I hope these young people can understand they have an even brighter future serving the King of Glory.
When I reach the areas where I do ministry, sometimes the parents are out in the agricultural fields working, but they invite me to teach their children. The children are usually with their grandparents at home. When I gather the kids, the elderly people are nearby watching the children and listening to what I share. Sometimes the grandparents might not be interested to come on their own, but because their grandchildren are interested, they will come and learn in the process. God is wonderful! His Word never returns void.
“So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”
Isaiah 55:11
I am seeing how the Lord is working, how He has a purpose in all things. He has given me vision to see these children as the future generation to carry the Gospel to my nation. My nation is full of darkness, but if these children come to know the Lord, their lights will shine so bright for Jesus and change this land. His work is not only for the future, it is for now as well. He is moving today and He is carrying His Word forth.
Please continue to pray for my mother’s health. It is winter here. This is the most difficult season for people who have trouble with their respiratory system!
God bless,
Pastor 7*
*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.
But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”
-(Mark 4:20.)
We didn’t understand before, but when we read the above verse, which is spoken by our Lord Jesus, we see this can happen in the present day. It did not happen in our early days of ministry. But thanks to God, this has happened in the recent days! We believe it will happen in the future too. We are waiting for this miracle to come. May God bring revival in our country!
Some Thirtyfold
Our Calvary Bible Institute had 30 young students. We are so thankful to our God, who gave us the opportunity to disciple these young people.
In November we were able to graduate 10 students in our Bible College. Some of the graduates are already serving the people. We see that they are already ordained by our God for His kingdom. God brought these students from different parts of our country so we believe that they will be serving
in different parts of the country. These students love God’s Word. Hopefully they will make His Word known everywhere and wherever God leads them.
We can tell that these students have a serving heart. We believe that they will serve God and that they are sold out to God. We see some of them as apostles, some prophets, some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. Please keep praying for these young people.
Some Sixtyfold
A couple of years ago, one of our students, named Joshep, graduated from our Calvary Bible Institute. Now he is serving in the eastern part of the country as a Pastor in his community. He loves God and loves people. He went back home to help his father in ministry. While he was helping his father, he started to teach and share the Gospel. This has led so many people joining the church. There are now young people, old people, and people from many different tribes who are coming to Christ. Joshep got married and has a year old son. He loves to share the Gospel in the congregation as well as one-on-one. Last month, 17 people publicly made a commitment to Christ. Most of the people were young people. Please pray that God will use him even more in the coming days.
Some a Hundredfold
One of our pastors graduated a long time ago. He is serving in another area of the country. His name is Pastor Milan. He is the youth leader in his district. He leads a once a year youth camp that hundreds of people come to.
Last month, he asked me to teach at his youth camp. Around 500 young people came. These young people love the Lord. Calvary Bible Institute senior students also attended this camp so that they could encourage other young people. These young people were able to study Psalm 103. Many young people are chasing the things of this world, but these young people follow Jesus. We need to pray that these young people will surrender their lives for the things of the kingdom of God.
Did you hear it? Did you hear it? We heard it. The starting pistol… it went off and the rat race begins. The first thing we’ve decided to do in 2024 is BE STILL !! The tendency is to hit the ground running, I’m sure we’re not alone but Jenn and I have decided to be still and know that He is God. We’re not going to try to catch up on any undone business of 2023. We’re not going to try to check off our to-do list or New Year’s resolutions of 2024 before we learn to practice the art of being still before our great God and king. We were grateful to be able to have a week of downtime between Christmas and New Year’s. 2024 started off with a short week in the office, followed by a weeklong time of prayer and fasting that our whole church engages in.
I heard somebody say the other day “no one is as busy as I am” ! That saddened me, but I begin to wonder if the same could be said of us. I think we are all the equal amount of busy, there are only 24 hours in a day, but just exactly what are we busy doing? That’s what Jenn and I have begun to pray about. Ministry matters and affairs around the church have to be tended to but people matter more and being still before the Lord matters even more than that.
THROWBACK TO 2023
We had the opportunity to serve at one of the church plants, Calvary Chapel Pedregales in Tijuana, Mexico. Taking Christmas shoeboxes and being part of an outreach for the community was such a blessing. SGWM missionary Deanna Jevas has been serving down there for 20+ years. I love her testimony where she committed 1 year to serving at the church and now she doesn’t ever want to leave. Deanna runs an afterschool program/soup kitchen with 40 children ages 6-12. She also oversees the Children’s Ministry at CC Pedregales, as well as correspondence for groups that come for short-term missions trips. She’s an amazing lady and friend and we were honored to be a part of blessing the families in the community. The children there are very poor so several of them wanted to wait to open their gifts on Christmas because it is the only gift they will receive. Please pray for these children and their families, that they would come to know Jesus and attend CC Pedragales. We love serving alongside each other, we provided the craft for the children ages 3-12yrs old. The theme was the “birth of Jesus” in the manger.
Calvary Chapel Pedregales Outreach
Prepping the craft for the children
As you know we recently began to be able to serve together as a couple in this new season of our lives. One of the things we love most is pouring into the missions training students, discipling and teaching them the ways of the Word. We also get to provide housing, transportation, and a safe place for the students to pour their hearts out. One of the really cool and kind of unexpected things we love is discipling the students who are engaged and married. It’s crazy to sit back and look at how good our Father is by raising these like minded youngsters up to marry and be sent out to the mission field! AND they want to hang out with US!! Tim and I love every minute of it.
We love these youngsters!
Another one of the blessings over the years has been to host and visit with missionaries around the world here on furlough. We had some great times in our home with Vincent and Melissa Aniku from Uganda. They are dear friends of ours, and we love to spend quality time. Before we closed out 2023 we had a wonderful opportunity to have dinner with some friends of ours from Uganda. They were at our home and shared the wonderful works that the Lord is doing there. We are hoping to go out and visit them and their ministry sometime before June. Another friend from a different area in Uganda was in the office for one day and Tim got to have great fellowship with him.
Vincent and Melissa
We are thanking our Father for the many blessings He has brought us in 2023. We are so grateful that we GET to serve the Lord in the capacity He allows us. As we are reminded, our God is our Provider, Redeemer, our Salvation, and He saved a wretch like us! We have had our challenges in 2023, but God is faithful and sovereign through it all!
PrayerRequests:
Please pray for the 2024 Calvary School of Missions and for us as we get to lead this wonderful work of God’s.
Please pray for us, as we are implementing some personal disciplines that will enable us to serve the Lord in this capacity for many more years.
Please pray for our son Andy as he is still wandering in his wilderness and desperately needs Jesus. Praise Jesus we are able to minister to him and see him frequently. We pray for our Father to renew his mind.
Please pray for wisdom as we navigate this new year in a way that honors God and brings much glory to Him. This year’s calendar for missionary care and equipping is quite full and opportunities are not lacking.
We love you all so much and thank you for being behind us. You are also part of this ‘Great Commission’!! We are so dependent on and grateful for your prayers and want to say thank you to those who have already joined us in this area. We realize it’s by God’s grace and through your prayers that we are able to serve the Lord the way we do! But if the Lord leads you to partner with us financially, we are in need of additional monthly supporters, and if you desire to increase your already generous support, please know that it would be a huge help.
“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
Ephesians 3:20-21 (NKJV)
Andy and I at SFO getting ready to take off…
I pray this update finds you well! It’s been a little more than one week of being sent out and living down in Peru. It’s already been a productive time and I am so blessed by all of the relationships that are being grown and the new ones being forged. I’m excited to see all that the Lord is going to do in this coming season and semester. Thank you so much for your prayers!
Right now, there are a lot of people on campus, but many are still to come. It looks like we’re going to have at least a few more people from the states so that will be nice to be able to grow in our Spanish together. If you didn’t know when we took off, we left last Wednesday around 1pm. We were able to talk with someone waiting near us for our flight about where we were going and what the Lord was doing and that began one of multiple conversations where we got to share Jesus. Please pray that those conversations will be seeds that the Lord will water. During our flight to LAX we got to have a great conversation with a college student sitting next to us. She had a lot of questions and I pray the Lord helped us to answer well! We had about a 6-hour layover in LA so we went to Santa Monica. It was my first time, but Andy had already been there (for those of you who don’t know, Andy is the other missionary being sent out from my home church). We had a good time exploring a little. It was a great way to pass the time and also provided an opportunity to share the Gospel with our driver who was from India named Gouthem. Please pray that those seeds would turn to salvation!
When our second flight was getting ready to leave, there was a man who was having some health difficulties, so the flight ended up being delayed by a couple of hours. As far as I’m aware, things ended up being okay. There were several people who were health care workers flying with us so that was a blessing. We got into Lima a couple hours later than anticipated—right at the time we were supposed to start boarding our flight, which led to a 7-hour layover until our next flight. Praise the Lord there was no lost luggage, and only minor delays. During our layover we went exploring a little in Lima and I got a much-needed haircut. We quickly realized that we weren’t in Santa Rosa anymore as we began to feel how hot it was outside. Thankfully we packed accordingly!
We arrived in Trujillo around 8:15/8:30pm Thursday night. We got all settled in as they already had a place picked out for us. We’ll be staying with the guys in the guy’s dorm for now. I’m excited to get to know them all better and to be able to speak Spanish more and more. On our first day here, we got to say hello to people we haven’t seen in a long time and met some new faces as well. They showed us the ropes and we got right into working on some projects. There’s already a lot that has changed since our last visit, but there’s much more to come! All the growth that is taking place here in Trujillo is very encouraging. Not only that, but the new CBI campus is starting up in Brazil this semester!
The dorm layout…
Right now, we’re working on finishing up a new storage unit next to the current men’s dorm, and then we are going to begin prepping the floor for the new men’s dorm that CC the Rock is going to come and build. I even get to do cabinets, so when things slow down with the priority projects, I’ll be working on some cabinets in the kitchen and doing some things with the coffee shop as well.
Andy and I after we just got the cabinet up on the wall…Putting up the roof with Andy and Shilo…Just before we finished up the roof on our new storage…Going through the Calvary Distinctives with the Tuesday night discipleship class…
The Spring semester starts on Feb. 13th, and I’m excited to help receive new students and some old ones too as not everyone is here yet. This Tuesday we’re going to get to see more what our roles will look like ministry-wise, and how we can pour into the students, make disciples, and be a blessing to the campus. Outside of our time helping in our ministry roles here and with construction, I’m trying to spend as much time as I can to grow in my Spanish speaking ability. Thank you all for your prayers with that. My Spanish is already getting better, and there’s a lot of work ahead.
How to Get Involved:
Thank you so much for all your prayers, generosity, and support as I’ve come out on the field. It’s been an overwhelming blessing, and I’m really excited for what He’s doing. Right now, my greatest need is prayer. I want to honor the Lord and walk in all that He has for me to do here. If you feel so led, I think the greatest physical need is monthly giving and support. Your giving makes outreach and ministry possible, as well as opens doors to provide for physical needs as well.
Prayer:
to be open to whatever the Lord has
to be flexible
to grow well in this season
to learn Spanish quickly
to aid however I can in the growth and development of the students and to help them understand and realize God’s call on their life through prayer and His Word
to be faithful in the little things as well as the big
to be an example of how a Christian man ought to conduct Himself in every way
for physical growth as we train at the gym and are able to use that weekly for a Bible Study to reach the wrestling/jiu-jitsu/MMA gym
continued prayers for my family’s health back home
Thank you for your prayers and support, Dios te bendiga,
Hey family! I hope you are all doing well and your new year started out great! The new year is a great time to reflect on the past year and give thanks to God for the good that He has done and look ahead to what He wants to do in the future. I want to share with you the ways God has been comforting me and teaching me. I hope you are all encouraged!
Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will compete it until the day of Jesus Christ
Philippians 1:6
We started off the new year with a week of prayer and fasting as a church body. This was something that I had never really done before, so I was excited to see how God was going to move. I have fasted before but am always so busy when I do, so I don’t put much emphasis on my prayer life. This time my week was filled with praying, reading His Word, and worship. It was hard and I felt weak every morning getting up from my bed ( I was okay!), but I felt that the Lord was strengthening my spirit, I was drawing near to Him and He was drawing near to me and I loved every moment I had with Him. Of course, while seeking Him, I was also seeking answers, but I knew that the Lord would reveal those details to me when He wants to. But He was revealing other things. It’s like the Lord was cleaning out my heart. The things that were not of Him, he was throwing out and I saw that. One thing I was convicted of was not having big faith. When I pray, I give my requests to God, but sometimes I find myself asking but not really believing. There were certain things that I just couldn’t see play out (being completely honest here). But God convicted me. Who am I to doubt the creator of the universe? I devoted more time to praising Him in my prayers and making requests for everything that the Lord put on my heart, and being more aware of how God is answering prayers.
We also had a time of prophetic prayer. There were a group of people with the gift of prophecy who came and prayed with individuals in the church. This is a gift from the Spirit that is meant for edification and exhortation (1 Cor. 14:3). This was a sweet time. After they prayed over me it felt like God just gave me a big hug. He hadn’t forgotten about me. He has me where I am for a purpose. This was something the enemy was discouraging me with, but God reminded me through other people who knew nothing about me and even during my time with Him, that He is doing something and it’s going to be great. Not because of who I am but because of whose I am, because of Him! He continues to reassure me still and I am so in awe of the work He is doing. My heart is full…
So, with that. I am trusting this process. I don’t know what exactly God wants to do. But I know that He is equipping me, taking me through His process, so that I can do His will and that is what my heart longs to do, what He wants. I desire to live a life that is pleasing to Him.
God is stirring up hearts
There are many things happening! Many students are on their way to vision tours (where they visit places God has put on their hearts and pray to see if this is the place He wants them). Other students are staying here, as we continue studying and serving, and being diligent in praying for them. I am grateful that God is answering prayers and sending people into His harvest and I am still praying for this. I am also praying that God would send people into the Unreached. I have shared the statistics with you all before but just to remind you. There are still 3 billion people who have not heard the gospel and never will unless someone goes to tell them. Only 3% of missionaries are going to the unreached, the other 97% are going to places where the gospel already is. This leaves 1 person for each 250,000 people who have never heard about Jesus. I am seeing hearts being stirred to go to the unreached but we must still pray that God would send people into these hard places. Pray that He would open doors into these countries and that we would see the unreached, reached. I encourage you all to share the Gospel where you are and keep praying for the world. God loves the world, so we should too.
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.
Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus' last words to His disciples, this is The Great Commission
I thank you all for your support. I am very grateful to have such awesome brothers and sisters in the Lord who are constantly encouraging me and praying for me. If you have any questions, I am always open to answer. Let me know how I can be praying for you guys as well.
Prayer Requests
That God would give me wisdom and boldness as I share the gospel with the people around me.
Pray for students on vision tours and the students staying back.
Revival in the church!
Praise Reports
Praise God for the open doors that He has given me to share Jesus with people close to my heart.
For the work He is doing here at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace.
It’s been quite some time since I last wrote and I have plenty of exciting news. In the past 4 months, much has happened and I will briefly sum it all up so you don’t have to read pages upon pages of information. Let’s get right into the reports.
What Happened after Mexico?
In the last newsletter, I wrote I was in Mexico. About a week later I was on my way to Israel. I spent the following 3 months in Israel with Study Tour Israel or Calvary Bible Institute Israel (CBI). I was able to connect with a small Jewish Russian congregation in the Golan Heights. During the first half of the trip, we were able to tour lots of the southern parts of Israel and got to explore all the various biblical sites and experience Jewish culture, as well as daily life in Israel. About a month and a half into my stay in Israel, on October 7th, tragedy struck. Around 1,500 people were butchered in their homes and over 200 men and women were taken captive by Hamas terrorists. Our hearts were broken when we heard the news. Soon after, war broke out and the Lord shifted the direction of our time in Israel. Sadly, the majority of the group was either called home or chose to leave due to safety concerns. I along with the director of CBI Israel and his wife (Spencer and Kylie) and the pastors of the Jewish Russian congregation (Steve and Misha) began to aid another local congregation and prepare meals for Israeli soldiers. This group soon began to cook home-cooked curry for the soldiers stationed all over the Golan Heights. It was through this experience that the Lord taught me so many things, I wish I could tell you it all, but for time’s sake, I will keep it brief.
One of the most important lessons I learned was truly how great the need there is for people to lay down their lives so that others may come to know Jesus. During my time in Israel, I met a girl on a bus to Jerusalem (and no this isn’t some Hallmark love story) we talked for about 2 hours and I got to share with her about Jesus. We had a long conversation about Jesus and why I believe he is the Messiah. Not only that, but I got to share with her how God has personally transformed me. During this time she told me she lived on a Kibbutz or a farm town of about 100 people. The next day, it dawned on me that I am most likely the only Christian she will ever meet in her whole life. Israel is not like America where there are churches on every corner where she can hear the gospel or be discipled. The point of that story is that the need is so great for people to go to these places where the Gospel isn’t so people can come to know Jesus.
On the Mount of Olives overlooking JerusalemInterviewing some soldiers with Billy RutledgeThe congregation coming together to serve the IDFSome brothers and sisters in Christ we met on the Sea of Galilee
What Now?
Since coming home from Israel I believe God is leading me to the mission field, where the need is so great. I recently began the first step of the process which is to wait. However, this isn’t a passive waiting but an active waiting upon the Lord. About 3 weeks ago I joined the Missions Training Program at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace in Yorba Linda, California. This program is designed to disciple those who may sense a calling to the mission field but don’t know how to get equipped. During the time I will be here, I am attending classes and serving at the church to prepare myself for the mission field. It has been quite an adjustment but God works all things out for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose and I am learning to trust that promise.
Prayer Requests / Praise Reports
Join me in praying for the peace of Israel and the equipping of the saints for the spreading of the gospel which brings true peace
Lift up Steve and Misha for protection and opportunities to share as they are still ministering in Israel
Pray for me as I begin working a secular job again, that I might have opportunities to share about Jesus
Pray that God will transform me throughout the process of this program
Praise God that He has provided a place to stay and a job
Praise God has been faithful to provide for me financially
Praise God that He is already working on my heart and will continue his work
I would like to thank all of you who prayed for me during my time in Israel, I truly believe that if it were not for your prayers and for all of those who reached out I would have lost hope. So, thank you again for all the support. If you have any questions regarding anything please, feel free to contact me. Until next time, God bless you.
As we near the end of the first month of 2024, we look back on last year with gratitude for all that the Lord has done, and for your faithful partnership in prayer and support; and we also look forward to what the Lord has for our family and ministry through the rest of 2024 ahead of us. Please see below for an important prayer request as we begin this year!
Amy and I are now the proud parents of a kid in “double digits,” as our precious Maggie turned 10 this month! Time is truly flying by, and we are soaking in all that we can with the kids. They are all doing well and flourishing.
As far as ministry goes, the church and running Missionary Care at SGWM keeps me busy. Our young adults group is growing both in numbers and spiritual depth, and we can’t believe what God is doing there! On the missionary care side, there were a lot of missionaries in town over the holidays, so I did a lot of planning for that and spending time with them. And this month, we have the privilege of sending our five new missionaries to unreached countries straight from our church. All glory to God!
As far as travel for this year, my hope and prayer is to make it to Uganda, my first time in Africa, in June; then deeper Mexico and Japan in the Fall, all for missionary care for established works and works just in their infancy. Of course, all of this is subject to change and is in the Lord’s hands.
We do have a personal prayer request for you all: We are in the middle of figuring out what to do next as far as housing. The housing market is not friendly right now for a single-income family of six on a ministry salary! We are not sure whether the Lord wants to provide for us to stay where we are right now, or whether He wants to provide to move to a new house, as our current lease is up at the end of February. We are waiting on Him and trusting Him, as Amy and I received a very specific prophetic word for us during this month’s week of prayer and fasting with our church: Provision. We know He will provide, but we want His wisdom and to know His heart for us. Will you please pray with us to know and walk in however He wants to provide for us?
We would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the link below:
You can also become a one-time or ongoing financial partner with us by clicking the button below, or by mailing a check made out to SGWM with “Joel Garcia” in the memo line to 17451 Bastanchury Rd, Ste 203, Yorba Linda, CA, 92886.
Love in Christ, Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia
