Author: Victoria Villegas

Stand for Something, or Fall for Anything

Posted on by Victoria Villegas

Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

Proverbs 30:5

Local Outreach

Every few weeks our local evangelism pastor takes a team of us to go to the Fullerton junior college to share the Gospel with students. We interview and ask them questions about the afterlife. I am always amazed at the answers I receive, many of them are so focused on the things of this world that many of them do not stop to even consider what life is after death. The fear of man is so apparent they would rather agree that all religions and beliefs are true rather than seeking after one truth. This makes the way for false religions to also preach, including Jehovah witnesses, atheists, agnostics, and even satanists. At one point, a group of students came up to our pastor saying that they were satanists, this was followed by a series of rituals they performed around campus.

Macey and I evangelizing at the college campus

Please pray for our team as we continue to plant seeds every month. Praise God that two people have accepted Jesus through these outreaches. May many more also seek the Lord. Please pray that they are seeds that become rooted.

Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

John 14:17

Plans for the Upcoming Year

I plan to go to South Asia for 3-6 months to intern with a missionary family. This will be a great opportunity to learn under the guidance of a family in South Asia with their ministry and church. I will be meeting with the pastors and leaders in May about my potential vision tour. I do not have a current budget for this trip yet, but I hope to release that information soon. My reason for going on this trip is because I feel led to this region of the world. This would be my first step into the field before entering full-time cross-cultural missions. It is on my heart to be a part of a team that church plants in the 10/40 window and interning in this new country will prepare me. Please pray for the church in South Asia and for the many nationals that are putting their lives on the line to church plant and pastor churches in these persecuted places.

Praying for a team of interns being sent into the 10/40 window for long term missions.

The Importance of Prayer

What does it mean to pray unceasingly? I wonder this, a lot. Personally, I fall in and out of seasons of prayer. I am thankful, however for prayer meetings, they stir me up once again to be constantly in the presence of the Lord. Fortunately, every Saturday there is a prayer meeting at our church. I hope many of you will join me in praying weekly on Saturdays. Please keep the work of the Lord in your prayers, remember His kingdom and that the Lord hears you. Send me your prayer requests and it would be an honor for me to intercede.

praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints”

Ephesians 6:18
A care team praying for missionaries in South Asia

Prayer Requests

  • Please pray for an opportunity to intern in South Asia in the fall of this year for 3-6 months
  • Pray for a girl I’ve been discipling in the Word
  • Please pray for my upcoming trip to Israel

Praises

  • Since I have been strength training, my balance and other physical pains I’ve had over the years are improving, my health has been much better
  • The Lord provides work for me every week
  • A friend of mine is coming to California, he is a missionary from Malawi
  • My mom just had her birthday, another year with my family
The intern girls (Lydia, Araceli, Macey, Kayla and I) sharing a beautiful day studying, reading, fellowshipping

Home is where my Jesus is

Posted on by Victoria Villegas

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the [b]wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of [c]the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— 19 and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. Ephesians 6:10-20

This past month of September has truly been a blessing. I returned to my parents home and spent time with family and community. For our Bible Study every week we have gone through Ephesians 6:10-20. I have the privilege of hearing the impact this study has had on the women and the impact it has on me.

Every day we wrestle against darkness and every day it is necessary to put our armor on. Seek God and that is all that is required.

I celebrated a big wedding for my friends Bethany and Alex Hewston. We had the great privilege of praying and encouraging our dear friend in her new stage of life. May God bless and guide them in their marriage. Erick, our pastor of True Life, and my friend Nichole are pictured.

I worked alongside my dad in plumbing once more as we helped with a few construction projects and service calls.

Every Tuesday I met up with our women’s bible study group on Ephesians. I missed every one of them and was glad to be part of the group again.

I want to thank everyone for making this trip special. May you all be blessed and continue to pursue the Lord.

As of now in the month of October I will be returning to my schedule. I will continue my internship in the office working under Pastor Nick Ramos, I will work in housecleaning and serve the church as I prepare for reaching the unreached. In the upcoming month of November, I am hoping to assist a conference in South America. I need about $1400 for this trip so please prayerfully consider if you would like to support me.

I want to thank all of you for taking the time to read my newsletter and for your prayers.  I would love to stay in contact so, please tell me how I can also be praying for you and how God is working in your life.

Prayer Requests:

South America trip, prayers for the conference taking place, and the financial support for me to go

My South Asia trip to support a friends upcoming marriage

My return home to Yorba Linda

Praise Reports:

Time with my family and friends went well

My uncle’s health has returned.

My sister in Christ newly married.

There are places in the world where the Gospel is unknown. Please partner with me in God’s will to reach the lost.

If you would like to partner with me in the work of the Gospel financially either on an ongoing basis or through a one-time donation, you can do so by clicking the “Become A Financial Partner” button below, OR you can mail a check written out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Victoria Villegas support” in the memo section to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873.

Tori Villegas July update

Posted on by Victoria Villegas

“Your hands have made me and fashioned me;

Give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments”- Psalm 119:73

Hello everybody
I want to say Hi to everyone, update you on these last few months, and give a brief overview of what I have been up to this last year.
I volunteer at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace and work in the office twice weekly. I work from 8 am to 5 pm as an assistant to Pastor Nick Ramos. The Lord has given Nick a vision for evangelism, so I assist him in the outreaches. We plan outreaches for the year and events that
would stir up the body in sharing the Gospel with our local community. I love the time I spend in the office, especially as I grow in structure, planning, and organization (not exactly my natural strengths), but I have come a long way from where I first started, all by God’s Grace. We all have areas in our lives that need strengthening, and sometimes we discover we are alright at it… even enjoy it. This year my challenge was to do everything for the Lord, and to my amazement, everything done for Him became enjoyable. In the end, it will all be tested onto Him and used for the glory of His kingdom. Kings

Concert with my friend Nichole and her young adults’ group

What I’ve been up to:


I am studying the book of Ephesians for class and will finish at the end of August. I now have my own cleaning business. I do not get paid to work in the office, so I clean houses to help pay for amenities and transportation. Please pray that I receive more work and clients.
As of the first week of July, it has been one year since I was at the school of missions. It’s been a great year interning at Saving Grace. I will do one more year of Internship as I wait upon the Lord to call and send me to the unreached.

Observing VBS Kindred to help plan for our VBS in 2023

Upcoming events:


I will be headed to Mexico for a Church planting conference in Rosarito on the first weekend of August. If you would like to come, please email me and let me know. Pastor Nick has a vision for a VBS event for 2023; we will continue to pray for that. I will begin Arabic classes once a week with a few other interns. I return home to Paso Robles in September to spend time with my family before the next school year. Thank you, everyone, for your love, support, and partnership in the Gospel. Please keep praying. The Lord, this past year, has stirred me up to pray and intercede. I encourage you all to pray that God’s glory would go forth and that you would be stirred for the Great Commission. I would love to hear from you, so please respond so I can listen to how you are all doing and how I can keep you in prayer; this brings me great joy.

Me Learning Guitar

“Let I pray, Your merciful kindness be for my comfort,
According to Your word to your Servant
Let Your tender mercies come to me, that I may live;
For Your law is my delight” – Psalm 119:76-77

Prayer Requests:
· More work and clients that I can work with and minister to
· The Lord to give me clear vision and direction
· Perseverance in God’s word
· My family’s health and strength
· The New CSOM team in Mexico
· Branden’s mom and her surgery
Praises
· I have a bike that’s perfect for getting around
· Both of my sister’s healthy pregnancies
· I have the privilege of babysitting my niece Eislee
· My friend Rachel newly engaged
· My friend Bethany’s wedding

If you would like to partner with me in the work of the Gospel financially either on an ongoing
basis or through a one-time donation, you can do so by clicking the “Become A Financial
Partner” button below, OR you can mail a check written out to Saving Grace World Missions
with “Victoria Villegas support” in the memo section to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451

Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873.

“Where Next Lord?”

Posted on by Victoria Villegas

A Vision tour to the ME

A team of about 20 of us from our Church went on a vision tour to ME. What is a vision tour? It is a time to seek the Lord’s calling and direction. I believe the Lord may be directing me towards the Middle East to pursue the Great Commission. This has been a blessed trip and I am excited to follow the Lord in whatever He may have for me. The Lord has given many of us the vision to move to the M.E. and so our Church is preparing many of us to be equipped to go in the coming years to share the Gospel.

Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength

-Isaiah 40:31

It is illegal to share the Gospel with Muslims in many ME countries. We are hoping and praying for the Lord to open the doors for us to move there, learn the language, make connections, and share God’s love with a dying world. Muslims are one of the hardest people groups to reach but God has a heart for these people, and we are willing to be used by Him.

Christian Woman in a Muslim World

We heard many great testimonies of God’s work, but the story that impacted me the most was of a brave woman with a secret faith. This is a story of God’s love for the Muslim people. Born in South America and then forced to live and marry a Muslim cousin in the ME a woman suffered abuse, and torment from her husband’s family. Amid her suffering, she secretly read God’s word to bring light and truth into her life. One day her Bible got ruined yet she kept the word in her heart and encouraged her children in the faith, her husband unknowing. Eventually, her children converted to Christianity. She prayed to God for Bible, and He provided… As the woman sold bread, she encountered a group also selling bread. She described them as having loving eyes. She walked up to them and asked if they were Christians. Shocked they said yes, gave her Bible, and continued a relationship her. These people helped her file for divorce and gain custody of her children. By the grace of God, she won both. This is unheard of amongst Muslims. She lives happier than ever with her children away from the abuse and free to worship God. I was privileged to hear this story from her in person. After her story, we took a picture with her, laughed with her, hugged her, and watched her place the Hijab around her head as she walked away. This is the life of a Muslim background believer, although she is free to practice amongst fellow believers, many trials still await. This is the reality of the life of a Christian in the ME. Please continue to pray for this woman and her children and all the believers suffering at the hands of persecution

What’s Next?

When I returned, I asked the Lord what was next, and He told me to wait. So, I will wait upon Him.

After this summer I will do another year of the internship here at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. I will work during the week in the office as an assistant to the Evangelism leader. I will be in ministry, doing school, and running a house cleaning business. I am praying about the Middle East, so I will begin slowly taking Arabic classes so that I can be equipped to go. I will live in my current home, with amazing people. and continue to grow.

1 Peter 1:6-9

Praises

  • The Lord providing housing, food, clothes
  • My faith growing in the Lord
  • People receiving the Gospel in the ME

How You can be involved

We are all one in Christ, a body working for the glory of our father and bringing new believers into Salvation. You can be a part of the Great Commission and move forward God’s word and truth amongst a dying world. If you would like to partner with me through prayer or financial support, please let me know. I would also like to be a part of your lives and to share and encourage you with all that God is doing.

Prayer Requests

  • Please Pray that I hear the Lord
  • Please Pray for unity within our Church
  • Please pray for the Leaders and pastors of the Church
  • Please Pray for the Muslims in the ME and the new work going forth
  • Please Pray that I have wisdom and discernment

If you would like to partner with me in the work of the Gospel financially either on an ongoing basis or through a one-time donation, you can do so by clicking the “Become A Financial Partner” button below, OR you can mail a check written out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Victoria Villegas support” in the memo section to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873.

Amphitheater in the ancient city of Jerash
Scenic of surrounding buildings of Jerash in Jordan

Lampstand

Posted on by Victoria Villegas

“Hosanna to the Son of David!
‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’
Hosanna in the highest!”

Our group before leaving for Watts Sunday morning

Hello Church,

What an amazing time serving and ministering this month. A team of us from CCSG drove down to San Diego and Tijuana to assist in aiding the refugees from Ukraine. Calvary Chapel San Diego transports Ukrainians from Tijuana to their Church in San Diego in order to provide them beds, food, and help in getting them to host families and airports. We cleaned, restocked food, transported, relieved volunteers and ministered to the refugees at the Church. It was amazing to see everyone working around the clock for the people. It was a great ministry opportunity to show the love of the Church to minister and aide the Ukrainians

I stayed a day later after my team returned home. I washed bed sheets and blankets at the nearest launder mat. CCSD set up a huge room with 30 or so beds for the people to sleep. We cleaned, stripped, washed, and made beds for them to rest. I was in the laundry room for many hours washing bags full of sheets, it was a lot of fun!  I met Coco there, she ran the laundry mat. A volunteer and I prayed and ministered to Coco. She was so blessed by our visits and the Churches heart to help the Ukrainians. Pray for Coco and her family. 

launder mat, washing the bed sheets

San Diego

The following day I rested. I stayed with my brother, sister in law, and my baby niece. I was ecstatic to be with my family in San Diego and spend the day with them, especially to meet my niece for the first time.

I returned home from San Diego and the following day helped with the spring-cleaning event at our Church. We cleaned the Church, washed windows, scrubbed tables, chairs, power washed.

My baby niece, Eislee and I

Hope Central Watts

We went to Watts to help relieve the Church there. We came as a Church Body to serve the Hope central in order to relieve the volunteers. It was such a huge blessing for them because they work so hard within the community. It was a great representation of brothers and sisters in the faith coming alongside each other.

Complex Outreach

Debbie, our pastor’s wife began a complex ministry. Every Holiday we send out a little gift and invite, this year was Easter baskets filled with candy and invites to our Easter service. Every other Sunday our Church throws a BBQ after Service within our courtyard. We take leftovers to open businesses of our Complex. People are so blessed with this; we hope they come to our BBQs on their own. Pray for these business owners. We are called to be lights to those around, and it starts with our inner circles of influence. As a Church body we want to reach our neighbors by showing the love of Jesus. My close friend Maribel made personal relationships with people from our Complex due to our outreaches. This means open doors to share Jesus

“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. “Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all [who are] in the house. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:14-16 (NKJV)

On the day to day, I work as an assistant to Nick Ramos, head of evangelism and church coordinator for outreaches. I come to the office Tuesdays and Thursdays. I am learning so much about what goes into running a Church.

Continue to pray for our team as we raise money for the Jordan trip on April 28th to May 10th. I have recently spoken with our accountant and I am more behind then realized due to unforeseen circumstances. I still need about $1800 as of now. I am trusting the Lord and I believe and know that if its His will then its His bill.

Thank you everyone for all of your partnership with me. Thank you to my communities and my family. I love you all and please keep in contact with me, I would love to hear from you. Send your prayer requests, I would love to pray with you. Thank you all for your prayers and support!

I work for the Church full time on support, so if you would like to support me financially, monthly or a one-time payments then please click on the button below. This will also go towards my Jordan trip.

Praises

Our prayer ministry

Time with Family

Ukrainians transported connected to families in the states

Prayer requests

Safe travels in Jordan trip

Finances

That I would be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit

A Blessed Covid Year

Posted on by Victoria Villegas
Intern Girls playing a game

Happy New Year Everyone!

As I look upon this past year much has happened… Starting in July I attended the Rosarito School of Missions for 6 weeks, returned home and found myself moving to Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda to be an intern with Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. I currently live in the house of Denise Blair. I room with Aleah and live with Denise, Maria, Cheena, Gabrielle, Rachel and baby Colson.

To be honest, this year has been stretching and challenging. By the grace of God I stepped out in faith and thus thrown into the furnace to be shaped and molded. This is life in ministry. Tossed and turned, dying to one’s self to live new and transformed daily. Although there are struggle there is no place in the world I would rather be in for this season of my life, despite being pruned, my roots have grown stronger and deeper as I drink from the living waters.

Interns with Calvary Chapel Women of Wisdom

“… casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.“

1 Peter 5:7 NKJV

I live in a community that is beyond supportive, a leadership that cares and nurtures our gifts loving and challenging us, to study the Word, love the Word, and apply the Word. It is the greatest honor to be where I am at and to live for Christ. When I remember the Lord and His promising words all of my troubles melt away. I am not loved for the works, I am loved because God said I was worth loving to die on the cross for.

Some highlights of the season were our Women’s Christmas event, and our Caroling outreach. For Christmas I spent time with the Sedillo family that welcomed me and other interns into their home Christmas day. I served the church in Yorba Linda for our Christmas Eve Candle light Service and that following Sunday. That Monday I went home for the holidays for a whole week and I am so grateful for that time I spent back home with my family.

At our Women’s Christmas Event Debbie, the pastor’s wife, invited many Muslim women to come and many others who didn’t know Jesus. They all heard the gospel message at the event and we pray that it stayed with them. It was such a blessing to be a part of and to see God’s work at hand. He is reaching out to His children. Let’s pray that these events were fruitful, and that God would continue to touch the hearts of the people from these events.

Women’s Christmas Event

Thank you everyone for your prayers and support I love you all, and care for you deeply. God bless you all and thank you for your continued prayers and support. I really miss home sometimes but praise God He sustains me in all I do. I could really use some prayers about going to two trips. I am planning so far to go to Mexico Mazatlán and Culiacan to do outreach from February 28th to March 14th. Also there will be a vision tour to Jordan soon, so prayers about attending this trip.

Prayer Requests:

Financial and Prayer support

Discernment and wisdom on going to Jordan and Mexico for vision tour

Praises

My Families health

The church evangelism ministry growing

Interns in good health

If you would like to partner with me please click “Become A Financial Partner” or you can mail a check written out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Tori Villegas Support” in the memo section to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, Ca 92886- 1873 God bless you all and thank you for your continued prayers and support.