Back Home... and off again.

I am sitting in the airport at LAX en route to see my parents and brother for Thanksgiving. I am reminded today of all that I have to be thankful for. I am thankful that my mom, dad, Cody and I get to spend this holiday together no matter where we are!! I have such an awesome family and the Lord is doing so much in all of our lives... so it is such a blessing to join them and be thankful for the bond we have.

I am also thankful for all the the Lord did this past year in Ethiopia!! Just this month we did a medical trip to Arba Minch and we shared the gospel with 1400 people... and we saw 140 of them embrace a relationship with Jesus! God's hand is seen so evidently in our work there and I am looking forward to our 2012 trip in June!... along with our 2012 trip to Ecuador in July!

I wake up every morning so grateful that I get to serve the Lord in my life professionally and I am honored that He has called me to be a servant of HIs, however unworthy, in this capacity.

So much to be thankful for... Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanks FACEBOOK!

About a week ago one of our translators, Karina, from our Ecuador trip this summer Facebooked me. She told me that she had been back to our sight in Loma Blanca where we did evangelism and discipleship. This is not her home church but because of the relationships we formed there she really wanted to go visit the people who we had shared Jesus with.

Upon entering the church she told me that she saw face after face of the people whom we had shared with and discipled while down in Portoviejo. "I saw Eric and Anita, I saw Jonathan, I saw Jacqueline and her baby..." The list went on and on. What an encouragement to hear that our work was fruitful and that those who heard the Gospel and were discipled are now plugged into a church community where they will be loved and taught truth. And what a blessing to get praise reports as easily as I do... Just another Facebook message, but to me so much more!! Thanks Facebook!

Blessed!

So, I am getting used to this whole blogging thing... I think that I need to be on here more often... But I DO want to share an amazing story that happened to me this summer while in Ethiopia. We had an amazing experience in the mountains of Arba Minch and the Lord showed up in such amazing ways, including seeing many embrace Christ for the first time!!

God also did a miracle before my eyes on our last day of ministry and I would love to share it with you!  My friend Jared and I were walking along a road and sharing the Gospel with whomever we ran into. As Jared began to share with a group of ladies, one of them started calling out to me. She seemed upset. My translator Abush and I went over to her and through translation we found out that she knew me?! Abush asked her how she knew me and she said that she had seen me in her dream the night before.  It turns out that this lady was a believer and she was crying out to the Lord the night before saying “Lord, why have you abandoned me? There is nobody who understands my pain and my sorrow! Where are you in my time of need?” After inquiring about her reason for being so upset with the Lord, we found out that her husband had just been sent to prison and the pain, loss and financial burden was overwhelming her and nobody understood how hard it was. When I found this out I began to weep immediately. Aboosh said  "This is truly miracle." I quickly understood. God was using my experiences with my brother to bring hope and comfort to a woman on the other side of the world. I explained to her my situation with my brother and that I understood how much it hurts to have someone sent away. We cried and prayed together for about 10 minutes. I then reached into my pocket to give her whatever cash I had on me (which was the equivalent of about 12 bucks.) I gave it to her and she wept even harder. She said now I can feed my children this month.  This miracle from the Lord encouraged my heart deeply as well as it did hers. The Lord recognized the need of one of his daughters and sent another one of his daughters to the other side of the world to encourage her. We serve such a BIG and powerful Lord. The God of all comfort and hope.

So many amazing things happened this summer and it is my prayer and hope that each one of you would join me on mission to see how God wants to use YOU! 

Plane Tix!

Purchasing plane tickets this week for the trips! Let's make this thing officail!

Until the Whole World Hears!

Wow, I feel like I have so much to share!

First of all, our teams are coming together great for our summer expeditions and I am looking so forward to doing ministry with my brothers and sisters this summer in Ethiopia ad Ecuador! Please keep our preparations, fundraising and safety in your prayers. Our first fundraiser is this Sunday 2/27 at Bridges Church in Long Beach. We will be handing out hamburger boxed lunches for donations beginning at 10:30 am. Stop by!

Second, I went to my second E3 Partners World Conference "Until the Whole World Hears". It was so awesome! All of our ministry partners from around the world joined us in Plano, Texas to worship, pray for our countries, and to learn new Church Planting strategies. They rolled out a whole new line of resources now made available to us and there was a Film Festival! Our film on the Gamo Goffa region of Ethiopia won the award for best film! WOW! So fun! I spent the weekend with our international Ethiopian partners Yoseph and Ribca Menna and our Ecuadorian brother Diego Trujillo, along with all of my colleagues from E3. What a blessed experience!

Last, I have been so honored to be a part of finally adding our brother Samuel Olto in Ethiopia to the list of missionaries that Bridges Church supports! Samuel lives in Arba Minch, Ethiopia, up in the Gamo region that we do ministry to. He is a well educated man that has stayed behind in the Gamo region, taking a huge cut to what he could make financially because he feels called to minister to the Gamo people. His people. Samuel is going to be our contact in the Gamo region and will be instrumental in setting up the trips with me, and overseeing a great deal of the follow up that will take place when we leave. Please be praying for Samuel, his wife and 5 daughters. If you are interested in giving to Samuel or encouraging his family feel free to contact me.

Whew! In addition to all of this, the Elders at my church have decided to invest in my mission financially and have raised my monthly support coming from Bridges by $300! I am so blessed to have their support and enthusiasm about what God is doing in and through me here in the states and abroad.

What an amazing few weeks I have had! I look forward to sharing even more with you as the expeditions get closer! Stay tuned!!!

e3 partners - Until the Whole World Hears

THIS VIDEO IS SO COOL! Explains what I do at E3 Partners... Check it out!

Let's do this 2011!

I am SO super excited about the trips that we have planned so far for 2011! We will be traveling to our brothers and sisters in Arba Minch, Ethiopia in the Gamo Goffa region from May 26- June 6. We will then be going to beautiful Porto Viejo, Ecuador! These are both church planting trips with E3 Partners and Bridges Church. As many of you know, the philosphy of E3 Partners Ministry is that "If Mary can't walk to church, Mary can't go to church". Millions of people all over the world don't attend a Bible believing church because there is not one where they live. It is our mission to change that! Feel free to join us on mission for either of these trips, and please pray! For more information feel free to contact me at any time. Our first meeting is February 6th, 2011 at the Bridges CHurch office at 11 a.m.! Hope to see you there!

Check out our trips online @ http://www.e3partners.org/