Garcia Family Blog – Domestic-based Missionaries for Saving Grace World Missions

The Power of Prayer – Garcia Family Update March 2022

Hello Friends and Family!

We have been provoked lately regarding the power of prayer in our lives and the lives of others. Prayer is so powerful, the most powerful weapon we have as believers. As various trials have popped up in the lives of loved ones, we have been reminded of this reality.

A few weeks ago, Amy’s dad was in a skiing accident that left him in critical condition. Through the prayers of many, he is on the road to recovery. Though things are coming along much more slowly than we’d like, we are so thankful the Lord saved him from an accident that could have been so much worse!

Just this past week, we also learned that missionary friends of ours in Turkey were in a terrible car accident that left their three-year-old son in critical condition with a fractured skull. Through the power of prayer, he is blowing the doctors away in that what they estimated to be 3 months’ worth of progress for him happened in only 3 days! Not only that, but our friends have been provided for radically and have been sharing the gospel with the doctors.

Finally, it has been amazing to see what the Lord is doing through the efforts of believers, and in our context, Calvary Chapels, in the Ukraine. Friends of SGWM are heavily involved on the ground there helping evacuate people and save lives. Praise God for how he moves in the worst of situations!

On the ministry side, Joel has helped hold the fort at SGWM headquarters in Yorba Linda while a large group was in central Mexico for two weeks. This past weekend, he had the privilege of both leading worship and preaching on one Sunday! It was busy, but a blessing to be used by the Lord in this way.

Kids enjoying heart-shaped pizza for Valentine’s Day

We also 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 button below:

Email Updates

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.

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Love in Christ,
Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia

Let Me Re-Introduce Myself! – Garcia Family Update February 2022

Hello Friends and Family!

I put together a short video for this month’s update to re-introduce our ministry. A lot of people aren’t fully aware of my role as Director of Missionary Care with SGWM and what that entails, so this video gives a short glimpse of what that means and why it’s so important!

We also 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 button below:

Email Updates

Love in Christ,
Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia

This Christmas Was… Different – Garcia Family Update January 2022

Hello Friends & Family!

Sick-mas

I pray you are all doing well! As many of you know, for many this holiday season was a little different with Omicron sweeping through many communities, including our church community. This is the second year in a row that we didn’t get to see any extended family on Christmas due to COVID; I came down with COVID 3 days before Christmas! It was rough on the family as it spread through the house and kept us cooped up over holiday break, but fortunately symptoms were mild and everyone recovered quickly.

Back to Work!

Coming back to “the office” after being sick was difficult, but the Lord really renewed my strength and blessed a week of prayer and fasting that we had for our church. The first couple of weeks of the year are busy for missionary care, so I’ve been doing lots of meetings with missionaries and emails with missionaries and working with the new Financial Director the Lord has provided SGWM. There is SO MUCH administration behind giving missionaries all the tools they need to be successful, so pray that the Lord would continue to strengthen me and our amazing team for this task!

Discipleship

Through our School of Missions and internship program, the Lord has provided some amazing opportunities for Amy and I to disciple young people who feel called to vocational ministry, specifically toward the unreached. One of those young men is Bryan Reyes. Not only have I been able to disciple him, but he has become a great friend and ministry partner. I got to watch him walk for his Bible College graduation last month, he runs our sound ministry alongside me for our worship ministry, he leads worship for our young adults group and teaches them once a month, and I also get to be the best man in his wedding at the end of this month. Would you consider supporting him and his soon to be wife Andrea as they prepare to be sent to the Middle East as SGWM missionaries?

https://sgwm.com/blog/missionaries/bryan-reyes/

Prayer Requests

Please pray for strength and wisdom for Amy and I in homeschooling our four kids.

Please pray for when and where the Lord would have Joel to travel next; it has been a long time, and the process is more complicated now, but Joel really has a heart to go visit our missionaries on the ground to minister to them.

We also 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 button below:

Email Updates

Love in Christ,
Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia

He’s Even in the “Boring” Stuff – Garcia Family Update November 2021

Hello Friends and Family!

I pray that you are all doing well as we enter into one of my family’s favorite seasons: Fall!

A recent apple-picking trip with the family

These last few weeks, I’ve been reminded that the Lord is even in the “boring” stuff that I do as Director of Missionary Care for SGWM. Administrative duties are not always fun and exciting. As COVID has changed our ability to travel, and I have been very slow and careful in trying to decide when and where I should travel next for missionary care, our focus has been on trying to make sure our home base operations run really well. That means I’ve been on the phone and Zoom checking up on missionaries to pray for them, and helping with their practical needs.

Take today, for instance. I’m writing this update on a day that I’ve spent most of my time updating procedures and instructions for our purchase order system. Sounds thrilling, right? But when I think about it, it is SO vital that our missionaries are able to access the funds their supporters give to them to use for their ministry! Without an easy-to-use and functioning financial system, the work of our missionaries to reach people in their field would be greatly slowed and hindered.

So, even though I’ve spent all day in front of a computer and on the phone, I’m reminded that these small, mundane tasks are of the utmost importance for our missionaries. And for that I’m thankful to be a part of that process!

Zechariah 4:10 – “For who has despised the day of small things?” I won’t despise the small things, Lord!

In Christ,
Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, & Clara Garcia

Send Them Out! – Garcia Family Update October 2021

Hello Friends!

One of the amazing parts of my (Joel’s) ministry with SGWM is seeing missionaries sent out. We refer to them as the tip of the spear, and we and the local church are the shaft by which these amazing missionaries are thrust into the midst of the unreached to bring the light of the Gospel to them. There is nothing in life more exciting than being a part of that process!

In that light, it is so exciting to see our first Calvary School of Missions graduate to be sent out finally start to get on the field! Jorden Skiles is going for 3 months to an undisclosed, sensitive country to be discipled by a missionary family there, before returning for a brief visit to the states and then on to the Middle East. He will be an integral part of a vision the Lord gave our church long ago to start a work in that area.

Praying over Jorden before he is sent out

Joel leading worship at Jorden’s missionary update night

I actually got to go with Jorden on his initial “vision tour” to see that country in person for the first time, a trip on which the Lord confirmed his calling to move there.

Jorden and I on the vision tour to the Middle East in early 2020

I can’t wait to move from being someone who was a part of Jorden’s journey to being sent, to now being the person primarily in charge of making sure he’s well cared for on the field. This is the kind of thing I live for!

Please pray that the Lord would raise up a team to serve alongside Jorden in the Middle East. Right now, Bryan and Andrea, who were on that vision tour as well, are preparing for their upcoming marriage and then seeking the Lord’s timing on when He would have them move to the Middle East as a part of that team. The wheels are turning on this amazing new work from the Lord! Pray for Bryan and Andrea, that the Lord would lead them during this time of preparation.

Bryan, Andrea, Jorden, and I back on the 2020 vision tour to the Middle East

Please continue to pray that the Lord would open up a traveling opportunity for Joel to minister to missionaries on the field. It seems that some doors keep closing for that. But, right now the plan is for Joel to be part of a rotation of pastors to spend time with Jorden in intervals over his first year in the Middle East since he has no other team on the ground. Pray that the Lord would provide great wisdom and guidance in that.

We also 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 button below:

Email Updates

Love in Christ,
Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia

Full Schedules and Full Hearts – Garcia Family Update September 2021

Hello Family and Friends!

We pray that you are all doing well. I’d love for you to take a few minutes to watch our latest video update on our family and ministry!

Please continue to pray that the Lord would open up doors and give direction on where He would like me to travel next. I take traveling seriously, as it costs money and precious time from my family, so I want to make sure that when I do travel, it is exactly where the Lord would have me to go to minister to missionaries. So far, I have not sensed open doors from Him to any specific area.

Please also pray for our new batch of interns, that the Lord would direct their paths and help us leaders at SGWM to disciple them well.

I love you all and thank you for your support and prayers!

We also 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 button below:

Email Updates

Love in Christ,
Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia

It Takes An Army – Garcia Family Update August 2021

Hello Family and Friends!

I hope that you’ve had a wonderful Summer! The days are still hot here in Southern California, but Fall will be here before we know it. Our kids have already officially started school up again (though school never really stops for homeschoolers, does it?).

This Summer reminds me of the importance of the crew it takes to send and care for missionaries. As Director of Missionary Care at SGWM, I help lead an army of people to support our missionaries. This includes our administrative staff and interns, but outside of our offices, there is a grouped that our own heroes, missionaries, look up to as their heroes: Missionary Care Teams.

Just this Summer, teams of believers from our church have supported a family on furlough from North Africa; a family who left just a few weeks ago to establish themselves in Rosarito, Mexico; and will help support a family in just a few weeks on furlough from South Asia. We’re also watching support teams from other churches care for our affiliate missionaries (missionaries who are not directly from our church), like a woman who is on furlough from Spain. Would you prayerfully consider becoming part of a Missionary Care Team? Please reach out to me for more information on what that looks like!

Paul Boubion, who is moving his family to Rosarito, shares at a Missionary Sendoff Night at CCSG

Zully Ruano, an SGWM missionary who serves in Spain, shares at a Missionary Update Night at her church

Finally, while it will probably be a while before I am able to commit to teaching more Skype classes to South Asia students, I was super blessed to be a part of the Zoom graduation for the last class I taught through the book of Hebrews a couple of weeks ago.

Zoom Graduation for South Asia students, featuring their American teachers

Please also pray for our CSOM students, as there has been some spiritual warfare that has led to changes in their plans that they did not anticipate.

I love you all and thank you for your support and prayers!

We also 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 button below:

Email Updates

Love in Christ,
Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia

Equipping the Next Generation of Missionaries – Garcia Family Update July 2021

Hello Family & Friends!

We wanted to send you just a quick update in the middle of a busy Summer. Our family is doing great, and the kids are having a blast swimming, meeting friends, and learning new things this Summer.

As many of you know, we hold an annual six-week Calvary School of Missions in Rosarito, Mexico every Summer. This program provides a primer for training young people in the theology and practicality of international missions and reaching the unreached. The theme is always a surrender of their lives and plans to the fulfillment of the Great Commission. This year, Joel got to go for the first week of the school to meet the students, minister to them as they grapple with missions and theology through a whirlwind first week. This has been a huge blessing, as he has never gotten to go for the first week and establish relationship with the students like this! In particular, it is really awesome for him to use his gift of leading worship to create an environment of surrender, intimacy with the Lord, and fervent prayer for the students. Please pray that the Lord would give guidance and wisdom to the students over the remaining fives weeks, and that He would strengthen them through the spiritual warfare they will experience.

Leading the students in a time of worship, prayer, and surrender to the Great Commission

We also 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 button below:

Email Updates

Love in Christ,
Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia

Boasting In Him – Garcia Family Update June 2021

Hello Friends!

Check out this video of some of the things going on in our life and ministry this Summer:

We would ask that you pray for the Lord to meet our financial needs and consider partnering with our ministry financially as the Lord leads. If you would like to support us 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 “Joel Garcia support” in the memo section to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873.

We also 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 button below:

Email Updates

Love in Christ,
Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia

An Update From Maggie & Harrison – Garcia Family Update May 2021

Hello Friends!

Some people don’t realize that in a family in vocational ministry like us, the kids are as big a part of the calling as the parents! On this lovely Saturday morning as I write this, I’m sitting in the living room while my two oldest, Maggie (7) & Harrison (5) build a Magnet Tile house. I decided to take the opportunity to interview them for this update; hope you enjoy!

Funny picture from a recent camping trip!

What is your favorite part about mom and dad doing ministry?

Maggie: I like inviting people over and telling them more about Jesus.

Harrison: I like having the young adults group over at our house every Friday night and hanging out with them!

Why do you think dad goes on trips to other countries sometimes?

M: So that he can help other people learn about Jesus. And he visits missionaries that we help support

H: So that he can talk to people, be with people, and share with people about Jesus

What is the hardest part for you when dad goes on a trip?

M: I don’t like it because you aren’t with us, but it’s worth it because when you come home I get to see all the pictures you take.

H: I don’t like missing you, but if you didn’t go, then less people will hear about Jesus and go to be with Him in Heaven.

[Note: Missing my family is also my least favorite part of trips! But Amy and I have taught the kids how important it is for dad to go visit missionaries because it’s part of the gospel going to the nations!]

Dad leading worship on his last trip to Mexico

How do you serve Jesus right now, and how do you want to serve Him when you’re older?

M: I am working on writing books to sell and raise money for missionaries. When I’m older, I want to be an artist and draw pictures from stories of the Bible and write what the story is about.

H: I serve Jesus by giving money to missionaries [note: last year Harrison decided to give some of his birthday money to a missionary we support] and I pray for people. When I’m older, I want to serve Jesus by being a missionary in Australia and Arizona [note: this was news to me this morning!].

I pray you all enjoyed this update, and I hope you remember to pray for our kids when you pray for our family’s ministry!

We also 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 button below:

Email Updates

Love in Christ,
Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia