My times are in Your hand; Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, And from those who persecute me.

Psalms‬ ‭31‬:‭15‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

When David wrote this psalm he was being chased by Saul and his army. Although his life was at risk he trusted in God. He trusted that his life was in God’s hands. God showed me through this psalm that I needed to trust that my life is in God’s hands. He knows when my time on this earth will come to an end.

After what I experienced in Israel I have been healing from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). I have been clinging to God’s Word and the Holy Spirit to give me the strength I need. What I love about God’s Word is that no matter what we are going through, His Word speaks directly to our circumstances. When the Lord put Psalm 31 in my heart He also reminded me of the heroes of the faith, how they got persecuted for their faith. The question that came to mind at the time was “are you ready to count the cost?” Being in the safe room, not knowing if my life was going to be taken away put things into perspective as to the calling God has placed in my life. I know that I know that I know that I am called to missions but God had to put my faith to the test because there will come a time where I am serving overseas and I will be facing hard situations and I have to be firm, armored up, and grounded in Him and His Word, to be ready to count the cost just as the heroes of the faith did.

I couldn’t help but think of the sweet season I had in Israel before the war broke out, how God was giving me the desires of my heart and now I am in a season of refinement, being pressed on every side and God is saying “Can you praise me like you praised me when everything was going good?” Like whoa, that truly does hit deep. But just as David says in Psalm 42…”But I will keep on hoping for your help; I will praise you more and more”

Thankful

I am beyond thankful for my church and the leadership. They have been able to counsel me through what I have been going through. I am also thankful that God chose me to go through this because I know He will use it for His glory in the future.

Indonesia

As I have mentioned before, a team of us from the church will be going to Bali and Java, Indonesia in February. This will be an awesome opportunity to seek God as we scout out the land and are able to connect with local missionaries there. We will be visiting villages in Java for two days and a missionary who has started a work there will be showing us around and his ministry. These villages are considered unreached and as most of you know my heart is for the unreached. We will then be in Bali for the remainder of the trip.

The cost of this trip is $1800. If you feel led in anyway to partner with me you can use the link below and keep me and the team in your prayers as this may be a potential location God leads us to move there.

Missions Training School

It has been sweet to be back and keep getting trained with my church. It is a new year and we have new students who are interested in missions. The harvest is plenty and the labors are few but it is awesome that our family is growing and I pray for more labors to want to go to the ends of the earth for God’s glory. We continue to have our Wednesday class where missionaries all over the world come and visit and share their story. We also just started up our preaching class again which is my favorite because I get to study God’s Word, learn more, and teach it.

As you all recall, I was Tim’s (one of the pastors) assistant, it was on pause when I left to Israel but as of now that season has ended. I was beyond blessed by this role and the many things I learned. On the other hand I am now Debbie’s (the senior pastor’s wife) assistant. As I continue to pray about a job that pays, God continues to shut that door and open other doors of serving. God loves to stretch my faith when it comes to finances but He always meets my needs:) What a sweet preparation for when I do go to the mission field overseas.

Praise Reports

• Praise God for His Word that’s sweet to the soul in times of trial
• Praise God for the leadership at my church
• Praise God for a new year of MTS and the new students
• Praise God for the opportunity to get to go to Indonesia

Prayer Request

• Pray that God continues to strengthen me and fill me with His peace as I keep having anxiety attacks
• Pray for my time with my family, I will be visiting them in a couple of weeks for the holidays
• Pray for our team who is going to Indonesia

“But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

Matthew 13:8

Saturday night I looked back to a word someone shared with me because the Lord had been reminding me of it for the past few days. The person had shared with me that God planted the seed of the gospel in me and that when Jesus waters it with His word, His comfort, His freedom, His power that a field will be exploding with different fruits and flowers. Well, Sunday morning comes and the pastor taught on Matthew 13, the parable of the sower. The Holy Spirit clearly showed me verse 7 was accurate in my walk with God, which says “And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them” but that verse 8 was what He had in store for me. God confirmed the word the person gave me with this scripture and in that moment I wanted to cry and get on my knees.

These past days, the Holy Spirit has been doing a work in me, empowering me and helping me see through the lens of God. I have been overflowing with joy and excitement. The only way I can describe what I am going through is like when I first came to Christ! All things new! A new work lays ahead. I cannot wait! I am grateful to bring you all along. I am so blessed by you all dearly!

I am currently in my hometown raising support for School of Missions and Cbi Israel. I can’t thank you enough for partnering with me financially and in prayer. I am at 19% out of 100 from my goal. I still got quiet a long way to go but I trust God will provide and I am grateful He already is. Being in my hometown, I have been able to reconnect with people and churches. I was able to preach the gospel to my cousin Edgar and even though he is not ready to receive Christ I was grateful God gave me an opportunity to share about Him. I had a devine appointment with a former coworker who is a non believer when I went to the grocery store. I was able to share about Jesus and it was a confirmation for him because his cousin had recently shared specific things I said to him which blew his mind. Praise God! God is so awesome! I am grateful in the ways He uses me.

Attending Compass has been new and exciting, my cousin Lucy attends this church and she has been connecting me with the church body. Twin Lakes was where I got baptized. Kyle, the young adult pastor always surprises when I visit because he remembers my name and I take it to heart. Twin Lakes along with Regeneration were the chuches God lead me to after wanting to leave the catholic church they were both an answer to prayer. Regeneration was the small community I needed at that time and I am grateful for pastor Matt and his wife DeAnna.

Praise Reports

• Praise God for the 19% for School of Missions and CBI Israel
• Praise God for the new work the Holy Spirit is doing in me
• Praise God for all the people I’ve been able to connect with

Prayer Request

• For Gods continued provision
• For my cousin Edgar to be drawn to God and His word
• For God to give me an opportunity to share the gospel with other family members
• For Regeneration to have a smooth transition in moving and reconstructing in there new spot due to the church being affected by a flood

Hello family and friends!

Out of all my newsletters this has got to be the one I am extremely excited to share.

First and foremost, I want to announce that I have been accepted to Calvary Bible Institute in Israel! I am beyond thrilled to study more of God’s Word, grow in knowledge, and deepen my relationship with God. Secondly, I have an opportunity to go to School of Missions this summer as a leader. Last year’s leaders are already taking off to the Middle East to live there long term with the goal of planting a church. It is amazing what God is doing through my church. With them leaving, it leaves me as the only Spanish speaker. Church leadership could really use my help in Mexico and this would be a great opportunity for me to grow in leadership. There is also an unreached tribe in Mexico that we will be visiting and bringing them the gospel. They have their own dialectic and very few speak Spanish. These two opportunities cost but I know I serve a great God who makes the impossible possible. I have witnessed His provisions time and time again. Thirdly, after I finish CBI Israel, Lord willing I will have the opportunity to spend a week with the team who is taking off to the Middle East.

If all goes accordingly, these are the dates I would be leaving and the cost,

School of Missions: July 9- August 20 $2000

CBI Israel: August 29-November 21 $3275, with your support I was able to give a deposit of $300.

Be with the Missionary Team in the Middle East: November 21-28 $500

On another note, it has been two months since I started my job at the church office. I am beyond grateful. Like I mentioned in my last newsletter, it is not a paid position but I love the fact that I get to work with one of the pastors. I also get to see the hard work of what it takes to run a church. Man, let me tell you, it is hard work. It makes me appreciate my pastors more because they pour so much into my life and the rest of the interns and congregation. It is such a blessing and honor to be part of a church where the pastors care for you, make time for you and feed you God’s Word. I have never experienced this before.

Woman’s event at Voice of Refuges: At this event we pamper Afghan and Arab woman. We give them manicures, pedicures and facials. It’s an awesome opportunity to love on them and share the gospel. I was able to connect with two Afghan woman, Sarma and Laila, who are muslim. I will be meeting with them in hopes to build a relationship.

Meet my new friend Ivan. He is a student at Fullerton College where our church goes to evangelize. I have had a few encounters with Ivan and I truly believe God is working in his heart. He is not ready to surrender his life to the Lord but I am so thankful that God has created this opportunity where I am able to share about Jesus with Ivan every time I see him.

Praying over the team who is moving to the Middle East. We all gathered at the Pastor’s house and the team was able to share with us their story about how they got called to missions. (For security purposes their faces are not shown.)

For our last life group meeting, Macey and I cooked one of my favorite dishes, flautas.

Praise Reports

• God’s confirmation to go to CBI Israel
• God’s provision of using others to give the deposit for Israel
• The Holy Spirit continuing to give me boldness and confidence in evangelizing and sharing Jesus with others, this is absolutely my favorite

Prayer Request

• For God to provide for School of Missions and CBI Israel
• For Ivan, that he may come to realize his need for a Savior
• For all the seeds that are being planted in the college students lives
• For Sarma and Laila, hoping I can build a friendship and be culturally sensitive so I may have an open door to share Jesus with them

Hello family and friends!

Thank you for your continued partnership!

With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.

Psalms‬ ‭119‬:‭10‬-‭11‬

God has put a deep, burning desire in my soul for His Word. I could relate to the psalmist, wanting to hide God’s Word, delighting in it, and meditating on it. Which brings me to God using that desire to evangelize. When I went to evangelize at a college outreach, me and a couple of others went up to Jehovah’s Witnesses. We were able to go back and forth backing up our statements with Scripture. The Lord gave me a clear picture of Matthew 4 when He was in the wilderness and the devil twisted Scripture as Jesus answered with Scripture. That is the way I saw the conversation with the Jehovah Witnesses, they referenced Scripture but it was twisted. The more I want to reveal the truth with Scripture to people the more I want to sit and study the Bible. This has made me consider going to Calvary Bible Institute in Israel in the fall as part of my internship. The program is three months and the cost is $1500 plus the plane ticket. This would be such an awesome opportunity to further my Bible knowledge. This is something I have to be in continual prayer about and see if God opens the door.

Last month I was offered a position at the church to be the assistant of one of the pastors and I said yes. This was not the job I was looking for, as it’s all volunteer work and I have yet to find a paying job but God knows why He wanted me to take it. So far, it has been amazing. I’ve been learning administration work and as Calvary School of Missions approaches and we’re receiving applications, I will be in charge of emailing the students and making sure everything is up to date with the information that has to be turned in.

Praise Reports

• God’s continued faithfulness & provision 
• Being able to search the Scriptures to defend my faith
• The pastors and the pastors’ wives have been pouring into my life 
• This place is starting to feel like home 

Prayer Requests 

• For God to confirm if I should go to CBI Israel 
• To continue to be bold in evangelizing that I may reach others with the gospel
• That I may serve God faithfully in the new role I have at the church office 
• For the CBI students who are considering School of Missions

I would greatly appreciate your continued partnership with me in prayer as the Lord continues to prepare me for cross-cultural ministry and leads me to a certain part of the world and people group. If you feel led to make a one-time or monthly donation to my missions account for future mission trips and eventually for being sent out, that would mean so much to me. Saving Grace World Missions requires 80% monthly funding before moving onto the field, so any amount would be a huge blessing as I start this process by faith for whatever the future might look like. 

God bless you,

Araceli