Most of you may know that I’ve been the Young Adults Pastor at my church for about 8 years now. The Lord has done amazing things in this group over the past year. We are currently going through the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, and one of the recurring themes in those books is God’s good hand being upon the work that these great men of God did (Ezra 7:6, 9, 28; 8:18, 22, 31; Nehemiah 2:8, 18). As I think about our ministry, and in particular about what’s to come this Summer, I see God’s good hands all over it!
REST
This coming week, our family is taking an overdue vacation, a road trip to Colorado, where we will stay for a week and get some much needed rest before a busy Summer. Our family has been doing great! Our two youngest (Jude & Clara) just celebrated their 7th & 5th birthdays, respectively, over the past month. Maggie, our oldest, was baptized last year in a moment that made us so proud as parents, and now Harrison, our second oldest, got baptized this month!
CONVERGENCE
One reason Summer is so busy for me as the Director of Missionary Care at SGWM is that so many missionaries come home on furlough. This is such a blessing for us! Last week I got to meet with one national worker who is visiting from South Asia. This week, we will have a couple we recently sent out to Japan here. With more missionaries coming in, that means that this week we will have one couple in from Japan, two couples in from the Middle East, one family in from North Africa, and one South Asian national here all at the same time (hence my sub-heading convergence above)! Another gal will be in from the Middle East for some of the Summer as well. This kind of stuff blesses my heart so much!
CHANGE
One thing that was both a blessing and a disappointment is that the trip to Uganda we had scheduled for June has been canceled. This is disappointing because I’ve been trying to make it to Uganda to visit our three missionary families there for a few years now. But, it is also a blessing because the reason we had to cancel the trip is that both families will be in the States during June receiving US citizenship, one for their children, and one for the father/husband who is an African national! I am so excited for this step for them!
WORK
Summer, as usual, is busy for other reasons as well. Much of our staff, including our senior pastor, spend 6 weeks in Mexico for our annual Calvary School of Missions, where we give people with a heart for missions a crash-course in all things missions, from theology to practice. To help support that, I will spend much of the summer leading the staff and home base here in Southern California, including teaching a summer Wednesday night series through the book of Proverbs for our church. On top of that, the cancelation of our Uganda trip will allow me to spend a little more time traveling to Mexico occasionally this Summer to visit and teach at our school there, and also to teach a workshop on building a worship team at the Church-Planting Conference at our own church plant, Calvary Chapel Rosarito.
I’m looking forward to an amazing Summer full of great things and covered by God’s good hand. We ask you to keep us in your prayers and in your hearts, and please let us know how we can be praying for you as well!
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Love in Christ,
Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia