Dear friends and family,

We hope each of you have been having a good summer so far! Geoff and I have been so grateful for the past 2 months because it gave us a chance to step back, rest, reset, and set out new goals to run after together.

Stepping Back

In the second week of July we were blessed to go on our postponed honeymoon and went up to the beautiful coast of central California. After a 6-hour road trip we arrived at the charming little town of Carmel-by-the-sea. It was full of good food, art galleries, tea shops, bookstores, and little gardens tucked away behind ivy and cobblestone. 

We had a wonderful time there and even drove up to the Santa Cruz forests to do a fun zipline and rope course in the sequoias. The scenery was absolutely stunning and we really enjoyed getting to have both a beach and forest vacation in one trip!

A few weeks following our honeymoon we drove down south to visit my (Lydia’s) family in Mexico for a week. We loved being back in Rosarito and had a restful time there as well as we hung out with family, ate tacos, and enjoyed the beautiful weather!

While in Mexico we were also able to attend Calvary Rosarito’s annual church planting conference. It was amazing to witness the work God is doing in Mexico and beyond, and we got to see several new church planters sent out at the conference this year! God is raising up leaders young and old who are willing to be used by Him to reach the world with the gospel. One of the pastors who was sent out to plant a church this year was almost in his 70’s! What an encouraging reminder that it’s never too late to be called and used by God in His Great Commission!

Pressing Forward

As the summer is coming to an end, we have been praying through next steps the Lord is leading us to take. We believe it’s time to prepare to go back to Japan for an extended trip of 3 months. During the trip, our heart is to seek the Lord for confirmation of our long-term calling there, to get a better glimpse of what it would be like to live and serve there, to learn under the missionaries there, and to come alongside Abide Osaka church anyway that we can. We don’t know exactly what the Lord has in store, but we are excited and open to however the Lord would lead and use us for His kingdom. We will update you all on the travel dates in our next newsletter.

Until the trip, we will continue to be equipped through SGWM’s Missions Training School (MTS) here in Yorba Linda, California. Lydia will be carrying on with her job at SGWM as an administrative assistant, as well as continue on in her weekly Japanese lessons.

As I (Geoff) go on in my studies through the Bible and MTS, I have enrolled into a videography course looking to learn how to potentially build my own business. My heart for the possible business venture is to create videos that allow viewers to see mission work and life as a missionary (while also taking clients for event photography). While I am still new to learning the skill as a videographer, there is something about being able to take a moment the Lord has moved and capture it for others to be blessed by it. I hope to bring a new way of updates to you guys very soon as we progress into the next steps of our journey.

Thank you once again for reading another one of our updates and for partnering with us. Your love and care mean truly so much to us. Let us know how we can be praying for you as well!

Until next time,

Geoff & Lydia

Prayer Requests:

• Please pray we would have renewed strength and a fresh fire within us as we continue serving and being equipped here at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace
• Please pray for God’s guidance & provision as we prepare for the Japan trip
• Please pray with us as we are in need of short-term housing for November & December
• Please pray that our hearts would be open and surrendered before the Lord each day