Helping Survivors Across the Nation

While partnering with EveryONE Free as a case manager for sex trafficked survivors Michelle has been blessed to form friendships and partnerships with others around the nation who have a heart to see women living in freedom and purpose.  One way we were blessed to see the Lord work was through a fellow co-worker on staff with Cru.  Pamela serves with Cru in Florida and has a heart for working with survivors as well. During our last Cru conference Michelle and Pamela were able to connect with one another.                          

Fast forward to this year and Michelle met *Anne.  Anne joined the online 24-week Pathways to Freedom class Michelle is a part of. Anne began sharing her story of being trafficked in the past and how she found freedom about 2 years ago.  The home she was in was closing down and she began to share about her daily struggle of depression and hopelessness in her future.  Her abuser had tracked her down in the past and she was struggling with deep fear for where she could go next.  Michelle connected with her as her case manager and began to reach out to various partnerships to find help for Anne.  A blessing appeared as Michelle remembered Pamela in Florida and reached out to her about the safe housing she helps with in Florida.  Just at that time a room had opened up and Anne was able to have an interview and receive a safe place to live!  We could see the Lord’s hand in it all with the timing and a perfect location for Anne to move to.  Soon after moving Anne texted Michelle:

I just wanted to tell you I was thinking about you this morning and I wanted to tell you how grateful I am for you. You have helped me in so many ways and I don’t know where I’d be without you.  I wanted you to know that I’m doing well here and I LOVE it here at the house. It is absolutely beautiful. I’m getting to know one of my roommates better and it’s nice to have social contact. Thank you so much for pointing me here. I’m Truly grateful.

Anne is continuing to thrive and currently taking college classes in Psychology at a local college.  She has big dreams and a beautiful future ahead of her.                                  

Thank you for praying for survivors such as Anne and so many others who are starting new lives and taking big steps for their futures and healing. Please pray they would see the love of Jesus through our words and actions and find His deep healing and peace.

According to Barna research—as of March 2022 :

42% of pastors have considered quitting full-time ministry within the past year.

Two in Five pastors (43%) say “I feel lonely and isolated.”

56% say “the immense stress of the job” has factored into their thoughts on leaving. 

Pastors Should Not Lead Alone

Last year Pastor Hunter from Solid Rock Church approached Joseph and asked if he would be willing to meet with him once a month.  He desired to meet for accountability and connection.  He wanted to grow in his leadership and emotional well-being as a leader. It has been such a blessing for Joseph to meet once a month with him and feels honored that Hunter would open up his life in this way with him.

Family Update…

Happy October! Thank you for your continual prayers for us and the ministry here in Los Angeles. We are thankful for each and every day and treasuring our times together as a family.  It is definitely a hard transition at times with 3 out of 4 kiddos being young adults and we miss those young years of childhood—but we are thankful for the friendships we now have with these amazing humans. 🙂   Thank you for continuing to pray for Joseph and his radiation treatments.  He has 10 treatments left to go and we eagerly look forward to hearing him ring the bell at City of Hope to close this difficult chapter of radiation. God has been so good to us in this season, and we have all grown closer to one another and to Him in so many ways that we would never change.   

Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrew 4:16

Thank you also so much for your continual prayers and financial support for us and the ministry here in Los Angeles.  We are truly grateful for each of you and are blessed. 

This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. (John 17:3)

Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  (Romans 10:9)

Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you    always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

Joseph and Pastor Marco from Christ First Espanol have been partnering together for over 7 years.  It has been such a wonderful partnership praying with one another and hosting evangelistic events together that many people have come to know the Lord through.  We praise God for these new believers that were recently baptized within Pastor Marco’s church!

Celebrating 8 new believers being baptized recently!

Picture transformative, multiplying churches in every segment of the city that communicate and demonstrate the gospel to every person, so that every man, woman and child would know the gospel and experience the love of Jesus Christ.

The National Leadership team for our ministry, Cru Church Movements, recently met for prayer and planning as they lead together for this next year.  Because of Joseph’s health at this time he could not be in person in Colorado, but he was able to be zoomed in to the meetings when he was not doing his treatment.  The vision for the ministry is summed up in 5 distinct areas we seek to see lived out.

· Connect People to Jesus

· Develop Missional Leaders

· Multiply the Church

· Partner to Serve

· Encourage Extraordinary Prayer

In Partnerships with Others we are Trusting God to reach 160,000,000 unreached people in the U.S, plant 160,000 churches/faith communities and mobilize 1,000,000 leaders.

Family Update…

Fall has begun and our kiddos are all in big transitions!  Luke is officially working for a Christian finance company, Daniel has begun his Senior year in college, Jessica is a freshman in college and Aleeya is a 6th grader! It is bittersweet seeing Daniel enter his Senior year and Jessica moving away from home for her freshman year—but we are definitely in a season of change and change is hard sometimes.  Thank you for your continual prayers for Joseph as well.  He is in the midst of the radiation and hormone treatment and doing pretty well overall, some days are better than others. Continuing to rest in God’s peace and strength through this season.

Thank you for praying and supporting our daughter on her mission trip this summer!  We wanted her to share all the Lord did in and through her!

Bula (Hello in Fijian)!

I want to say thank you with genuine gratitude. I wouldn’t have experienced this amazing mission trip without the help of your support and prayers. I truly felt the power of prayer and the presence of God due to your endless prayers and God’s faithfulness to me.

              On July 1st I arrived in Suva, Fiji. My team and I then met the Cru Fijian Student-Life who helped us immensely during our time in Fiji. I was able to connect with many of them and learn so much about their culture. The schedule throughout my two weeks in Fiji consisted of visiting Gospel High School each day to lead classroom periods throughout the day while sharing the gospel. Our classroom schedule consisted of an introduction, a game, a gospel presentation, a testimony, and small groups where we had many spiritual conversations. I had the opportunity to share the gospel 20+ times in different class periods. The start of sharing the gospel was scary for me but the Lord gave me so much strength and courage that I was able to share with such confidence. My team helped me so much by encouraging me and giving me several tips to improve. Words can’t describe the feeling I felt in front of each class, there would be times I would forget what to say yet God would speak through me. I felt His peace so consistent as I shared and was able to add my style to the gospel presentation with human visuals and explaining more in-depth. My favorite part of sharing the gospel was leading the salvation prayer out loud and hearing voices repeat after me as students prayed to receive Christ right in front of me. It was an unreal and truly beautiful moment to experience. 

Another opportunity I was given was to lead many small groups in the classrooms where we played Soularium (a card game with photos and questions). Examples of the questions I would ask are: “Pick a card to describe your life right now”, “Pick a card to describe your relationship with God”, and “Pick a card to describe your view of God”. This was a casual way to arise spiritual conversations. I was able to connect with many students and learn so much about their lifestyles and culture. Although some answers I received broke my heart, such as the one girl who shared in tears how she recently lost her brother. Others shared how they wished they had a “picture-perfect” family. As I listened to these hardships, I shared the love of Jesus and shared the importance of putting God on the throne of their lives. 

  One last encounter I had with a student I will never forget is meeting a boy who was blind. I co-led a small group with a blind student and deaf students and an interpreter. I started asking the questions but felt called to focus on the blind student and let my friend lead the rest of the small group. I described each card to the boy as he chose a card that best answered the question for him. As the spiritual conversation started I asked him about his faith and relationship with God. He shared his strong faith in God and gratitude for his life. I was so humbled to connect with this sweet boy speaking with such kindness and happiness even when describing how he could barely see me. He shared about his culture and asked questions about America, such as if there were blind people where I live. My heart sank imagining how he felt wondering if he was alone and wishing to see a bit clearer. I then shared how he isn’t alone and connected with him. 

The whole two weeks of sharing the gospel many times in classrooms were exhausting and we had packed schedules. Yet I wouldn’t trade the experience for the world, my connections made with students made it so worth it. On the days I felt “off” or with no motivation I cried out to God and He gave me so much strength. I experienced so many fruits of the Spirit on the mission.

One last experience my team and I had in Fiji was visiting a village to distribute water filters. We visited the village of Verata and distributed water filters to homes in need and shared the gospel with the filters. 16 people prayed to receive Christ during our visit to the village!  I was able to visit 2 homes with my small team and share the gospel at both homes. I shared how God is like the water filter that purifies and cleans us from our sins. I also shared the prayer to receive Christ and led 2 people to Christ! It was a very humbling experience to walk into these homes in the village that are in need of clean water. Looking into the eyes of those in need and hearing why these Americans are here to give them clean water was truly a beautiful experience. Many got teary eyed, and you could see their attitude of true gratitude. I felt very privileged to give some houses the gift of clean water and a relationship with God.

On July 14th, our team then flew to Auckland, New Zealand. During our time in New Zealand, we visited a school at the beginning and end of the week. During our visits one day, I led a small group of girls where we went over a devotional and soularium cards to get into spiritual conversations. I then connected with the girls learning about their culture, comparing foods from the US to NZ, popular sports, and fun random questions. On another visit to the school, I was able to help lead worship for students before we started our gospel presentation. It was a beautiful experience to worship with my team and hear the voices of students sing out. Our team also had the privilege to hang out with students during their lunch. I was able to play volleyball and soccer with students. I also shared God’s love by chatting with random students and getting to know them. It was a special time visiting a school of students eager to know about God and welcoming us Americans so well.

In the middle of the week, our team visited the University of Auckland (New Zealand’s largest University). During our visits here we launched the Student Life and Athletes in Action Clubs. We visited during “Club Rush” where we promoted learning and joining a Christian community on campus. Our role as a team was to approach strangers and to ask them to fill out a quick survey with spiritual and personal questions, in order to invite students interested in God to their clubs. This was out of my comfort zone, but with prayer and courage gained from God, I approached many students. Even with the smallest interactions I had with students I shared the love of Jesus and complimented   students to bring a smile to their faces.

Our time then ended in New Zealand where my team and I had a debrief remembering all our special moments together on the mission and preparing    ourselves for the transition back home. I grew very close to many members of my team which made the goodbyes very hard. It was a very bittersweet goodbye to my team members that lived in other states and far away from me. But I feel very thankful for technology to be able to stay in touch and connected with my team and people I’ve met overseas. The transition back home was difficult for me since I have so much love for my team members, those I’ve met overseas, two beautiful countries, and two new cultures. But God taught me after missing so much to be grateful. Rather than wishing I was back, to change my mind set to gratitude. The gratitude of the door that God opened for me to grow in so many ways. The gratitude of all the people I connected with. The gratitude of an amazing team knit together by God. SO MUCH to be grateful for. Lastly, I want to thank YOU for supporting me financially and prayerfully on my mission trip. I feel very blessed to have you in my life and all of the support you’ve given me. But in all glory to God, I couldn’t have gone on this mission trip without Him and His faithfulness to me.

God Bless!

Thank you with a heart full of gratitude!

Love, Jessica Butlig 🙂  

Church Planting in Colorado!

Meet the Westons!  One of our roles is to coach newer staff within our ministry of Church Movements.  One of the many staff Joseph coaches is Brett, and Michelle recently began coaching his wife, Erin.  They both are serving in Denver, Colorado.  Their desire is to plant a gospel-centered mission minded church in Centennial, CO near the Denver Tech Center and the University of Denver to reach the city for Christ.   

Denver is in need of hope.  Colorado has one of the highest rates of teen suicides in the nation, drug and opioid use is rampant, and most Denverites would say they are spiritual but that Christianity is  actually harmful to society and they would not seek God among Christianity.  Denver is in need of hope.  

Through Joseph’s coaching times with Brett he started with coaching him in how to train his church members in evangelism.  It was wonderful to see them use what they learned to share with their community and see people come to know the Lord on Easter Sunday!  After the evangelism training they began to talk through how to train the leaders within the church.  And then most recently, Joseph has been coaching Brett on training the elders – as they will share the responsibility with Brett in leading the church.  

Michelle has been coaching his wife, Erin, over the phone as well.  Michelle has been praying for her and encouraging her as she reaches out to the elementary school she recently began working at with the love of Jesus.  As well as being a mom of 6 !

Please pray for Brett and Erin as they share the love of Jesus to their community in Colorado—that the Lord would work through them and their church powerfully to see lives changed.

Refugee, Urban, Indigenous, Immigrants

As the National Field Director Joseph is overseeing and coaching Bryan, Northeast regional director, from Baltimore. Brian leads the RUII Reality ministry within Church Movements.  It has been exciting to be a part of and see how the Lod is moving within this population! 

RUII stands for Refugee, Urban, Indigenous, Immigrant

There are 49.8 million foreign born immigrants that reside in the U.S.A.  That is 1 in 7 Americans and 14.9% of the population are from Unreached People Groups.

361 Unreached People Groups are in the U.S—making America the nation with the 3rd largest number of Unreached People Groups in the World.

There are 10 states within America where 96% of the population are Unreached and Unchurched.

The need to share the love of Christ with the Refugees, Indigenous, Immigrants and those in the Urban cities is high.  A recent praise is a partnership we have formed with the International Missions Board (IMB) to help map people group data in order to better motivate & mobilize the Church to reach those within these demographics!

At a recent RUII training time Bryan and   others from Cru welcomed and prayed over 2 new staff members joining Cru Church Movements.  They both are from a Muslim background and desire to do full-time ministry reaching other Muslims in America with the love of Jesus.

FAMILY UPDATE…

This has been a busy exciting season for us!  We had back-to-back graduations and celebrations for Luke and Jessica!  It is hard to imagine how fast these kiddos have grown up, but we are so proud of the young men and women they are becoming.

Thank you also so much for your continual prayers for us and the ministry here in Los Angeles.  We are truly grateful for your prayers and are blessed.  We hope you are having a wonderful summer!

“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” 3 John 1:4

As 3 of our 4 children are now adults this verse has been so close to our hearts recently.  We are humbled by God’s goodness and know our greatest contribution to their lives at this point is to always be available and to pray continually for them.  It is such a new season in our family, and we are continuing to learn and grow and trust the Lord for each one of our children’s hearts and stories that He has written for them as they enter   adulthood.  So many of you have seen our children grow up over our 24 years of ministry with Cru and we are so humbled and thankful for the prayers you have lifted up on their behalf over the years.  You have changed their lives and we are eternally grateful. Thank you. We wanted to share a blessing Jessica has for this summer and an opportunity for you to be praying for her and/or to give to her summer.

Dear Friends & Family,

This is Jessica Butlig, I’m a senior in high school and hoping to grow and transform my faith this summer. I enjoy photography, art, music, singing, and being around people I love. I am planning of attending Cal Baptist University in the fall to major in psychology & become a kids therapist! I have grown closer to God during my high school years and learned to take my faith more seriously. I adore worshipping our Father and learning more about the awesome things He has done. I pray during this summer that I am able to grow and deepen my relationship with God. I was given the opportunity to go on a summer missions trip to Fiji & New Zealand with Cru Ministry. I feel that I’ve been called to go across the world for a month (June 25—July23) to share my story and bring the good news to others. I am taking a huge step in faith to follow God’s plan for me to go on my first ever mission trip. I hope to grow my faith, gain new friendships, learn new cultures, and most of all help others come to Christ.

On my summer mission trip in Fiji & New Zealand, I will be given the opportunity to share the Gospel in high school classrooms. This will be done by presentations, assembly programs, meeting with students in common areas, and after-school outreaches. One of our mission   opportunities will be installing water filtration systems in homes of need, while the rest of the team will be connecting with the families. https://filterofhope.org  I will be able to connect with students throughout the community. I hope to build my faith with Jesus and build relationships with peers across the world by sharing my story and the good news. 

I am needing to raise $2,500 more of the $5,300 I needed to raise for my summer mission trip by June 12th.

I appreciate your time to read my letter and I hope you will join my team. I know that God has blessed me with great people who will walk alongside this new experience with me. I know that God will provide for my needs and expenses. I truly do appreciate any help that you can give. 

To donate to Jessica’s summer mission please go to: http://www.give.cru.org/1175472

Hello, my name is *Briella...

“On behalf of my experience with Ending the Game/EveryOne Free—I would say that they are some of the best ladies I have ever met in my life. The affirmation they gave me I keep up on my wall and it is super useful. And in that alone, I was help in finding self-value. The classes were super informational, the facilitators were understanding, sympathetic, and compassionate. I learned a lot from each class and each person, and I will remember this experience forever. Besides that, when I moved across the country I was searching for value and continuous healing. These ladies provided that when I thought I was going to have to go back home. Michelle helped me to ground and land safely beyond my expectations. I can’t thank them enough and I’m happy that it’s a program out there such as this I felt valued, I felt heard, I felt helped, thank you again!”

“Don’t let what you did define you.”

As *Sara graduated from our 24-week program she shared with the other women these words of wisdom.  “Don’t let what you did define you.” Sara has been through so much trauma in her short 23 years of life but it has been and continues to be such a joy to see her beginning to flourish. 

When Michelle first met Sara she was very guarded and had a very hard time showing any emotions.  She had been a survivor of sex trafficking for only 2 months and was in need of deep healing and restoration.  Over the months of connecting on the phone and our weekly Tuesday night classes Sara began to open up, seek help in areas of her life and take steps forward.  We were able to help her finish her GED requirements and take steps to find employment.  She recently began a job working for Disney!  She also began to take college classes at CSUF this Spring with dreams to pursue a job in the trauma department at a hospital one day.

Michelle is currently partnering with a sex trafficking organization nearby as their case manager.  She is training another woman to join her as the need has grown greatly.  She is currently connecting with over 20 women on a regular basis—to encourage, share God’s love with and provide resources for as they get back on their feet and find healing from being trafficked.  The pain and trauma she hears from these ladies is great but God is so good, and we rejoice in the praise stories as we see lives change.  Thank YOU for your prayers and support. 

Thank you also so much for your continual prayers for us and the ministry here in Los Angeles.  We are truly grateful for your prayers.

Evangelism Training

      One of the staff Joseph coaches, Steve, recently led an evangelism training time at a local church.  He brought together over 260 people from 14 different churches to do training sessions in Spanish and English on evangelism!  After the time of training the people separated into various groups and went out into the Santa Ana community to share Jesus with others.  That afternoon we saw 88 people from the community accept the Lord into their hearts and desire to learn more about Him! 

In a recent study, LifeWay Research found that most people don’t mind a friend sharing about their faith.

79% of 2,000 unchurched Americans agreed when asked:

“If a friend of mine really values their faith, I don’t mind them talking about it.”

For the past few years, Joseph has served on the national team of Cru Church Movements. Last year his team decided to restructure nationally and create regions throughout the United States. Joseph became the West Regional Director. Recently, his supervisors asked him if he would consider being the National Field Director and oversee all the Regional Directors throughout the US. After praying, seeking counsel and talking with one another, he decided to take the new role.  He also accepted another role being a part of a national team for mobilization and partnerships. Please be in prayer for him and Michelle as he begins this new role as it involves a greater amount of traveling throughout the year.

Joseph and Pastor Krishna are continuing to work together to help Nepali women start micro businesses and gain employable sewing jobs. Empowering the women to overcome poverty will help prevent the women from being lured to New Delhi, India into sex trafficking, as well as help our church planting efforts through women coming to Christ.

Please pray as we are strategizing and considering ways to start self-sustaining sewing factories that could hire 20 Nepali women for each factory.

The school year is wrapping up… Daniel is finishing his Junior Year of college; Jessica is in the midst of so many High School Senior activities and Aleeya is completing 5th grade!  Aleeya had an amazing chance to serve as an assistant director for a dinner theater show at out local church.  She absolutely loved learning how to be a director and we had a sweet time watching her shine.

Thank you also so much for your continual prayers for us and the ministry here in Los Angeles.  We are truly grateful for your prayers.

Y a ti Que? Valentines Outreach

This past month we partnered with Christ First Espanol to have a Valentines outreach to the community.  We had a nice dinner, raffles, a performance by Rabito and the gospel message shared.  The message was on change. Change is normal and all things change—time never stands still. We need to change also and we need the forgiveness of Jesus to be able to change. We were so encouraged by over 100 people from the community that came out for it and we saw 4 accept the Lord into their hearts that evening!  Please continue to pray for these new believers to be connected to Christ First Espanol and to grow in their understanding of God’s love.

Solid Rock 10 Year Celebration and Dinner!

Joseph met Pastor Ruben over 8 years ago as he was trying to replant a church in Claremont.  He began to meet with him regularly to help him think through evangelism, discipleship and the training of leaders. We celebrated with the church—Solid Rock—this past month for their 10-year anniversary! Over the past 10 years Solid Rock has seen 75+ leaders trained, 100+ baptisms, raised $300,000+ for church planting and seen 6 additional churches planted!  It has been an amazing work of the Lord.  A special highlight of the evening was how Joseph was honored again and again by the staff for all his dedication and support and leadership to them over the years. We are so humbled to see the Lord move here in the Pomona Valley and are excited to see what the Lord will do in the years to come!

Joseph with the various Pastors he has been blessed to develop and learn with at Solid Rock.

(Pastor Ruben, Pastor Hunter from Solid Rock, Shy and Michael from First Love Church, Pastoral Resident Hugo from Salvo Por Gracia Pomona and Stiven (Pastoral Resident)

Family Update…

We just celebrated Jessica turning 18 years old!  How does that happen?  We are so proud of the amazing young woman she has become and her heart and passion for Jesus.  She recently decided on college for the Fall (Cal Baptist studying ASL and Psychology—with dreams to be a child therapist).  She is also planning and preparing to go on her first mission trip with summer! These 18 years truly are a blink of the eye, but we are so thankful for the blessing of raising her.  

Thank you also so much for your continual prayers for us and the ministry here in Los Angeles.  We are truly grateful for your prayers.

Campus to Church Movements

We have formed a network of ministries within the Los Angeles area to bridge the gap of college ministry to after graduation. Our desire is to help graduates from college campuses transition well into post college life as a Christian and be connected and involved into a local church.

Representatives from Bridges LA, Destino LA, InterVarsity, Asian American Christian Fellowship, Navigators, Faculty Bridges, Cru Campus, and Cru City all joined together as one.  We spent the morning sharing about our local ministries and praying for one another.  We also created area maps to share where are respective ministries were located and have a way to view how we could come together in those areas.

Please pray for our continued unity in the Los Angeles area and for ways we can serve one another to help college students love Jesus in their workplace and be involved in a local church community.

Christian Foster Care Coalition

We are part of a network of ministries and agencies that help Christians come alongside kids and youth in foster care.

RIGHT NOW…
THERE ARE 21,000 CHILDREN IN THE FOSTER CARE SYSTEM IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

Our vision is to come together around the common goal of supporting, praying for, and   networking with each other. We also come together to educate the local church/Christian community about the kids in foster care who desperately need them and how to get involved. Our deeply held desire is to connect the family of Christ to kids without stable families, so that children and youth living in LA foster care can be protected, befriended, prayed for, guided, supported, mentored, encouraged, assisted, and most of all loved, as Christ loved us.

This February Joseph had the incredible joy of baptizing Aleeya! She has been growing and learning about Jesus for years now and is a sponge –always asking questions and desiring to know all she can.  When she came to us and asked if she could be baptized, we knew she was ready! She had told us many times before she only wanted to be baptized when she was confident that she wanted to follow Jesus all the days of her life.  We were so proud of her as she read her favorite verse to the church body and why she chose it.  Joseph had the blessing of baptizing her and we are so thankful for the many friends and family who came to be a part of this joyous day and celebrate with us!

Thank you also so much for your continual prayers for us and the ministry here in Los Angeles.  We are truly grateful for your prayers.

Christmas in Covina

This past December we partnered with Christ First Espanol in Covina to host a “Christmas in Covina Espanol” outreach. Joseph meets regularly with Pastor Marco to plan and design evangelism outreaches. 

The outreach had a drama/comedy skit “What if Jesus was never born?” that comprised of comedy and a gospel presentation. Pastor Marco also shared the gospel and we saw 10 people come to Christ!  One of the ladies that came to Christ was the mother of the stage manager (Julie) who serves on the outreach team.  Julie was so excited to see her mama come to know Jesus!

Please pray for our next outreach near Valentines in February focused on Friendships.

Church Planting Network Celebration

This Christmas we also had a great time celebrating with the Church Planting network that Joseph helped form.  There are now 3 churches in the network! Solid Rock Church, Salvo Por Gracia (a bilingual Spanish speaking church) and First Love Church (a church that meets on the Claremont Colleges reaching college students with the gospel).

We also rejoiced in the new members of the network who desire to plant churches in the future! Stiven is a pastoral resident who will plant another church in the near future. He is also a seminary student at Gateway Seminary.  Hugo is from Salvo Por Gracia and he desires to plant another bilingual Spanish speaking church.

We are so grateful for God’s blessing us to multiply churches that will reach   different people groups with the Gospel!

Family Update!

Another huge milestone for our family this December was the graduation of our oldest boy, Luke! He graduated in Business Finance from Cal Poly Pomona!  We are so proud of him and all his hard work the past 4 years and are excited for the plans the Lord has in store for him and his future.  It feels like just yesterday we were sending our firstborn to college—it is such a reminder to treasure the moments.

Thank you for your prayers for Joseph’s health—he is doing amazing, and his latest test showed the cancer as undetectable—Praise God! Thank you also so much for your continual prayers for us and the ministry here in Los Angeles.  We are truly grateful for your prayers.

Graduation & New Beginnings!

Through Michelle’s partnership with EveryOne Free (sex trafficking organization which seeks to bring awareness, prevention and restoration to survivors of trafficking) she was recently able to celebrate another survivor taking steps to a new beginning!  Michelle is the case manager for EveryOne Free and connects with the survivors to help them find the resources they need to start their new lives (housing, GED, resume writing, college, therapy, etc..). *Rachel is one of the ladies who went through the 20-week diversion program we run in partnership with a Pomona public defender and the Pomona courthouse.  After completing our 20-week diversion program they can apply for a grant from us to go to continue their education and start a new beginning.  *Rachel has been such a joy to work with and is so strong.  She is a mama of 2 and working hard to provide a wonderful life for her babies.  She recently completed her first set of makeup classes and is beginning the second semester of classes.  Her dream is to have her own beauty salon and be able to work her own hours in order to be able to be with her children as well. 

We are finishing up our second block of diversion classes for 2022!  Please pray for the 5 women involved with us.  They have been working hard in their healing.  The program covers an intervention curriculum, Strengthsfinder, Boundaries, Job skills, Resume writing, Personal Finance, Therapy and more.  There are definite ups and downs, but it has been so encouraging to see ladies seek help and healing and for Michelle to be able to share the love of Jesus with them as well as resources to serve them.  One woman *Emily recently shared with Michelle how she loves our weekly diversion classes, that it is the highlight of her week.  She has been overcoming so much.  She shared how her mom and sister recently told her how proud they are of her, and they have seen so many Big changes in her life.  It is wonderful to see joy restored and hope in the ladies’ hearts.

 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Luke 4:18-19

“Be Still and Know that I am God.”  (Psalm 46:10)

These past few months have definitely been emotional and a whirlwind.  This verse has been a constant in our lives recently.  Trusting and Knowing God is in control… that we can seek Him and Be Still when our hearts, worries and emotions are racing.  These words from the Lord have felt more real than ever before. Joseph is continuing to do well with his healing.  It has been a long 6 weeks, but he has regained most of his energy and has healed remarkable well.  We are so thankful.  He passed his first psa blood test with the cancer being undetectable!  We are continuing to meet with a couple more oncologists and he will continue to be monitored every few months through blood tests.  Thank you for all your prayers—our hearts and souls are so thankful.

In the midst of our Fall the kiddos have been growing up too fast for our hearts.  Jessica recently had her senior homecoming dance—and is now applying for colleges! Daniel was recognized at his college for earning one of the highest top 5 scores for Microsoft Office, was given an award and asked to be on a panel with students and faculty sharing wisdom with other business students.  Aleeya is enjoying 5th grade and her soccer team Brazils!  She is a fast little runner! And Luke is finishing up his last semester at Cal Poly!  Our boy is about to graduate!!! 

Our family has definitely grown closer to the Lord and one another through the trials this Fall. But we are thankful to see how the Lord has met each one of us in different ways and how He is working in all of our lives, we are reminded to continue to BE STILL AND KNOW HE IS GOD.  Raising children is a rollercoaster at times but He loves them more than we ever could, and we continue to place them in His hands and trust Him for their lives. 

Thank you for your prayers, encouragement and support to us.  We are so very thankful.