Depression is not having a “bad day” but living day by day trapped in that silence and all you want to do is shout out the pain inside.

 “And they assume that if you cannot see it, then it’s not really there. As if pain does not exist, unless you’re bleeding or slung in a cast or staggering with a limp.”

This past month we partnered with a local church, Christ First Espanol, to host a community outreach on anxiety and depression which affects over 40 million adults in the U.S. alone. We had a panel who shared their past and current struggles BUT how they are able to find true HOPE and STRENGTH in Jesus. 

There was hours of planning and prayer by Joseph and Pastor Marco leading up to this event and it was so encouraging to see how the Lord was glorified.  People from within the church and especially the community filled the church and SIX people gave their lives to Christ !  We were on the prayer team as well to pray for the many people who came forward in need of prayer and for those who made commitments to Jesus for the first time! Another amazing aspect was that we promoted this event for weeks leading up to it and the response was humbling, as many reached out for help even before we had the event and Pastor Marco formed a support group filled with believers and 3 others from the community.  There are now 2 support groups at the church bringing hope and healing to those struggling with anxiety and depression—from within the church and non-believers within the community. To see a highlight video we made of the event check out this link!

Because of your faithful prayers and support to us we are able to serve full-time and share the love of Jesus here in Los Angeles.  Thank you so very much, we are so eternally grateful.

Not everyone can be a foster parent, but ANYONE can help a child in foster care.

There are 21,000 children living in foster care in LA County, who need caring people in their lives. We recently hosted a Foster Care Info Fair with keynote speaker Bishop Martin. His inspiring story has been seen on Dateline NBC, Oprah, and Good Morning America. The decision he and his wife made to open their home to 4 siblings in foster care. He then inspired his church to change the lives of 72 additional children. The Info Fair brought together 14 different agencies and ministries that offer a variety of opportunities to help kids in foster care. 

The Info Fair allowed people to come together and hear about God’s heart for children in the foster care through hearing a panel of former foster youth, learning about the foster care system from experts in the field and hearing abut the many volunteer opportunities available. These include: being a mentor, advocate, friend, camp counselor, tutor, prayer supporter, job/life skills coach, foster/adoptive parent, and more!

Partnering Together to Plant Bilingual Spanish Churches!

Chad Wolyn is a missionary with World Impact. Michelle and he grew up together in the Bay Area and went to youth group together through high school! It has been so fun to be reunited here in Southern California and meet one another’s families – and see how the Lord brought them both into full-time ministry. And now to be able to partner together in ministry! Chad was able to attend the evangelism workshop that Joseph led earlier this year and he asked Joseph if he would help him with his church. Pastor Chad has a passion to help his church plant 10 bilingual Spanish speaking churches here in the Los Angeles area.  Joseph and Chad have been meeting to develop a discipleship processes, leadership development, and raise up future church planters.  Please pray for them as they partner together.  Pray for Jorge, who is a part of Pastor Chad’s church, and who could potentially plant a church next year.

Thank you so much for your continual prayers and support to us and the ministry here in Los Angeles. We know it is because of the prayers of so many that we have the blessing of seeing the Lord change lives here Thank you.

Thank you also for praying for us and our family. This Fall has been flying by with a Homecoming Dance (Daniel), Show Choir Performances (Jessica), New Roommates (Luke) and Soccer Fun (Aleeya)! Thank you for your prayers.

To be a Disciple of Jesus you must Make Bold Moves and Continue to Make Bold Moves…

1 Thessalonians 1:1-4

 He Boldly Chooses Us—⁴ For we know,  brothers and sistersloved by God, that he has chosen you.

 He Boldly Changes Us—⁵ because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction.

He Boldly Uses Us— your faith in God has become known everywhere.

A Bold Obedience— ³ We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

This month we had an amazing opportunity to travel to Greece for a Cru Global Church Movements Conference.  We joined 275 others from around the world, representing 84 different countries!  It was an inspiring experience to be in the presence of Cru staff planting churches all around the world in the midst of persecution and hardships. We heard from speakers, worshiped together, prayed together and worked daily in table groups talking about the ministry and gaining wisdom from one another. 

“After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.”    Revelation 7:9

Learning, Praying, Worshiping Together with missionaries from Africa, India, Philippines, U.S, Australia, Kazakhstan, East Asia and so many more!

The theme this year was be•cause.  Celebrating the cause that God has called us to and the fact that God also wants us to be… be in His presence and be in love with Him.

This past July we traveled to Colorado for our biennial staff conference.  One of the great highlights of our time there is the camp/conference that Cru provides for our kids at the same time as the adults.  Being a missionary kid is unique and has its own challenges and it is wonderful they have this opportunity to come together with other youth that understand them in this way!  Their conference had amazing worship, speakers and small group time to process every day as well as fun activities throughout.  They had a day of workshops they could choose from such as: sharing your faith, battling, pornography, relating to and loving those in the LGBTQ lifestyle, your personal testimony, etc..  There was also a day of outreach where our kids were able to go into Denver and other cities to talk with people who were interested in learning about Jesus.  We are so thankful Daniel and Jessica had a wonderful summer of fun and most importantly growing in their relationships with Jesus.  

Encouraged and Challenged by so many speakers such as: Gary Haugen (founder of IJM—anti trafficking), Hung Thach (Cru), Darryl Smith (Cru)Latasha Morrison (Be the Bridge), Steve Douglass (President of Cru), Pastors Daniel Hill and James White, Beth Guckenberger (Back2Back Adoption Ministry) and others.  It was a full week that        encouraged and equipped us to continue in the ministry here in Los Angeles.  Thank you for your prayers and support for us for this summer.

Foster Care Coalition Ambassador Training— 30,000 Children in the Foster Care System in Los Angeles

Every day thousands of children live without a stable family in Los Angeles county.  Their desperation is our motivation.   They need mentors. They need advocates. They need families.   They need hope.

God’s Word emphasizes the significance of caring for orphans.  In the United States, the abused and neglected children who enter the foster care system are our nation’s “orphans.”  We have joined together as a COALITION to better serve these   children by equipping the local church for foster care mission work. http://www.fostercarecoalition.com

This past month we put on an Ambassador Training in Long Beach where we trained leaders from various churches in how to begin a foster care ministry at their own church.  Please pray many churches would rise up to care for the 30,000 children in foster care here in Los Angeles.

To hear stories of former foster youth is always so powerful and important for others to begin to understand what these children go through.

Two of the foster youth who shared at our time were Denisse and Will.

Denisse had been at multiple foster homes & group homes growing up. She stopped caring about herself because others seemed to not care. Denisse was never adopted and aged out of foster care. She is now reunited with her sister.

Will was adopted at 2 years old but then removed from that home at 13 years old because of sexual and emotional abuse. School was difficult for him and he was angry because of his circumstances. He moved from foster home to foster home and from various group homes and aged out of foster care. He really wanted to be mentored but never had a mentor. He now is adopted by members of the Foster Care Coalition (Suzanne and Andy).

Joseph and Sarah at the training. Sarah is part of Foothill Church and has a huge heart for beginning a foster care ministry at her church.

Women learning how to Help Women in LA and             Around the World

A few weeks ago we had the privilege to speak to a group of women at the First Chinese Baptist Church Los Angeles (FCBC).  A former student involved in our ministry years ago from the Cal State Los Angeles campus is now leading the women’s ministry at FCBC!  She organized a paint nite for women of the church and wanted to use that time to help the women understand sex trafficking here in Los Angeles and around the world and put the proceeds from the event towards the Nepal project we are working on. Joseph and I were able to share with the ladies and it was so encouraging to be a part of the evening.

Please continue to pray for the Nepal Project. The 2 women we had trained in sewing skills in India are now back in Nepal at the sewing centers training other women!  There is a long waiting list of women who desire to learn sewing skills and use this skill to provide for themselves and their families, instead of being lured into sex trafficking.

Celebrating our 20th Anniversary in Laguna Beach!

Flower fields and beach time

Family Update…

Happy Easter!  We pray you had a blessed Easter celebrating the power and love of Jesus in our lives.  We are finishing up the school year—trying to finish strong and prepare for the summer.  We are excited that our oldest, Luke, was accepted to go on a summer mission trip with Cru to Japan this summer!  (He will probably be sending you a letter soon to share more!)  Daniel has his driving test in a couple weeks and is applying for summer work.  Jessica recently tried out and made the Show Choir Team for high school in the Fall (how can she be going to high school already!)  And we are celebrating 3 YEARS Forever Family Day with Aleeya in a week! She continues to keep us laughing, dancing and loving life. Thank you so much for your continual prayers and support to us and the ministry here.  We are so thankful for each one of you. Please contact us anytime to share ways we can be praying for you as well.

The Changing Face of Evangelism

In a post Christian world, 2.5 million people leave the church every year and 4000 churches permanently close each year. With only 5% of Christians sharing their faith, there is a need in the Church for thoughtful and effective evangelism and discipleship. Joseph recently put together a half day workshop for churches and church plants in the Los Angeles area.

He partnered with Pastor Ruben (Solid Rock Church in Claremont) and Kirk from NAMB (North America Mission Board) to invite pastors and leaders from churches and church plants to come together and learn about this changing face of evangelism.

Here is a great Highlight Video of the Training Time Joseph led-   https://youtu.be/ERQMKvoQmbE

Joseph, Michelle, Edina and Gabor (Cru Church Movements)

Go into All the World…

The Glendale area of Los Angeles has a population of about 200,000, of which, according to some estimates, 40% is Armenian.

Pastor Nazaret and his wife, Sona

Joseph has been recently meeting with Pastor Nazaret in Sherman Oaks. Pastor Nazaret came to one of the Changing Face of Evangelism times that Joseph led for a group of pastors in the Northridge area. After the training Pastor Nazaret approached Joseph and asked him if he would be willing to meet with him and help him replant his church, as there are very few people involved. Joseph is helping him redefine his mission, values and vision for the church. They desire to create a curriculum on the values of the church with which Pastor Nazaret can use to train and raise up leaders within his church that will be aligned to the Mission and Vision. His heart is for the Armenian population in that area and we are thankful to be able to help reach the community there with the love of Jesus. Please pray for Pastor Nazaret and his church — Enduring Hope Church. Pray that the Lord would use him powerfully to make a difference in his community in sharing the love of Jesus and would raise up leaders within his church.

FAMILY UPDATE…

Happy March! We pray this year is going well for all of you. Life is full and busy but good. We have been able to squeeze in family hikes and daytrips to the beach and even the snow a few times. Aleeya is NOT a fan ! The cold is not in her blood and after our last trip to the snow she asked us to promise her we will never go there again!! Sunny California weather suites her well. Daniel just took the SAT (we can’t believe it is time to start planning for college for him soon!) Luke loves his life at Cal Poly but still makes time for family fun, which we love. And the girls are busy with homeschool, lessons and a music showcase production they are in the end of March. And Joseph and I continue to balance it all and make it a priority to have at least a lunch date once a week—our 20 year anniversary is next month! CRAZY how times flies. Thank you so much for your continual prayers and support to us and the ministry here. We are so thankful.

Mobilizing the Church in the City for Action

The Coalition of Christian Foster Care Ministries, where Joseph serves on the leadership team, recently was a part of a Pastors Luncheon here in Los Angeles.  The luncheon was held for pastors to come together and learn more of the foster care epidemic in LA and how it impacts issues in the city.  How the mission of the church and  the Gospel of Jesus calls us to the ministry of fostering, adoption and advocacy. Nick Vujicic was a guest speaker and he shared his inspiring message of  insights he has learned of God’s hope and love through all he has been through (born without limbs).  Please pray for the churches within Los Angeles to be mobilized to serve the thousands of children in foster care within our area and to gain a heart for the orphaned.  We were able to invite churches to our next Ambassador Training in March where churches can receive training to begin a foster care  ministry within their church.  Please pray many churches would come be a part of our time. Here is a clip of Nick sharing his heart:
https://youtu.be/pTKVtlbCQpU

LA County Dept. Children & Family Services Data 2017-2018

• 18,228 children in out-of-home placement
• 6,841 in foster homes for more than 2 years
• 400-450 children waiting to be matched for adoption on any given day in LA

Child Characteristics:

 Birth-2yrs = 21%    3-4yrs =12%     5-9yrs =26%    10-13yrs = 18%   

      14-15yrs = 8%         16-17yrs = 8%     18yrs & older = 7%

Church Planting Assessments

Twice a year Joseph partners with the North America Mission Board to help do assessments for their new church planters.  He recently completed his 5th assessment this past week. They assessed 12 church planters.  The church planters are assessed in their calling to plant a church, social skills, their vision for the church and these 5 areas:

• • • Family Dynamics (do they have a strong marriage and family)
    • Communication (preaching)
    • Church Planting (evangelism and discipleship)
    • Leadership (how do they develop leaders and teams)
    • Wives (how does their wife feel about church planting, does she have good support as a wife/mom, friends)
    • Emotional Spiritual Health (are they emotionally mature, have they dealt with past history & hurts)
  

  Todd, Joseph, James and Kirk worked together to assess the new church planters.

  The North American Mission Board (NAMB) saw that many of their new churches were starting but then closing their doors after 4 years. They began this assessment time twice a year to help new churches become strong, healthy churches, have accountability, a strategy plan and to be able to reproduce into new churches.  After the assessments the church planters go onto further training and are eligible to receive monthly support from NAMB.

  FAMILY UPDATE

  From rain and cold to beautiful days—this winter is crazy!  We enjoyed a day in snow one weekend and a hike the next. 🙂 The kids are still busy with school and activities and Luke is enjoying his days in college.  We love that he is near and visits often!

  

  Thank you for your continual prayers and support to us and the ministry here in LA.  We are so grateful for all the Lord continues to do here in and through us.

   

Sex Trafficking Awareness month is in January. The statistics of trafficking nationwide, and especially right here in California are devastating. California is a destination state, meaning it’s a top location where traffickers bring victims and capture victims. Part of our focus in Cru City is to help fight this horrific evil and we are so thankful for the ways we have seen the Lord move as we work to bring prevention to the local schools, partner with other organizations and churches to bring awareness to the community and partner to bring spiritual mentorship and Jesus’ love to survivors in a local safe house near us.

“The situations that sex trafficking victims face vary dramatically. Many victims become romantically involved with someone who then forces or manipulates them into prostitution. Others are lured in with false promises of a job, such as modeling or dancing. Some are forced to sell sex by their parents or other family members. They may be involved in a trafficking situation for a few days or weeks, or may remain in the same trafficking situation for years.

Victims of sex trafficking can be U.S. citizens, foreign nationals, women, men, children, and LGBTQ individuals. Vulnerable populations are  frequently targeted by traffickers, including runaway and homeless youth, as well as victims of  domestic violence, sexual assault, war, or social discrimination. https://polarisproject.org/human-trafficking/sex-trafficking

*Ana, a survivor, who is now an advocate for women freed from trafficking—receiving some of the baskets to give to the ladies she works with.

This past December Michelle had the opportunity to share about sex trafficking and her work at a local safe house with the women’s study at our church.  The women there desired to show the love of Jesus to the women in the safe houses by making Welcome Baskets for them. 15-20 welcome baskets were created to give to the women during Christmas and 2019.  It was amazing to see the love these women put into the baskets and the prayers. They were received joyfully and it makes an amazing difference for these women to feel that someone cares for them and that they feel Jesus’ love through others.

Please continue to pray for these women.  Pray that they would experience the gospel and His true healing through their time at the safe house.  Pray for Michelle and the other women involved there—for wisdom in how to connect with these survivors, and being able to show patience and unconditional love to them as they begin their journey of healing.

Nepal Praise Report!

Pastor Krishna (on left) & Joseph (on right)

5000-6000 women and children are trafficked from Nepal to India each year. About a year ago after Joseph spoke at an   outreach to fight sex trafficking, a local Pastor (Pastor Krishna) asked if we could partner  together to end this evil and help the church planting efforts in Nepal. A year later, after many conversations, doubts, emails, MOUs, WhatsApp messages, raising the finances, and prayers over multiple cultures and languages, the project has  begun! Two Nepali women are now being trained in Mumbai, and they will return and train other women in  micro-enterprise of advanced sewing, garment bag making, and jewelry making – to empower the women and prevent further trafficking.  We are excited to see the church planting efforts in Nepal strengthened as well, since many women from the community are desiring to be a part of it. We have already seen 3 women put their trust in Jesus at the Nepali sewing centers!  Please be praying for these two women as they are being trained in Mumbai.  Pray for them after they leave the training and return to Nepal to begin teaching other women in Nepal at the sewing centers the skills they learned.  Ultimately that these women would gain valuable skills to keep them and their family out of poverty and the evils of  trafficking and that these women would hear the gospel through the church plants connected to the 5 sewing centers in Nepal!

Family Update…

We had a wonderful Christmas celebration as a family, loved having Luke home for a month from college and enjoyed many family times of games, movies, dinners together, and Christmas traditions.  As many of you know Joseph was in dire need of a newer car and the Lord blessed him with a wonderful car—thank you for everyone who prayed for his car need and gave financially. We are so very thankful.

We are Giving more than Bikes and Boards…We are Giving Love and a Sense of Belonging

PREVENT TRAFFICKING BY SERVING KIDS IN FOSTER CARE

Tamiko and Patti from Purpose Church

Last year we hosted a Foster Care Coalition Info Fair at Purpose Church in Pomona.  Members of the church and community attended to hear more about the foster care system here in Los Angeles and how they could be involved serving and loving the children in foster care.  Through this time Tamiko (the director of the Justice ministry at Purpose Church) gathered a team from her church to create a foster care ministry and an event “Bikes and Boards for Kids.”

Foster Care Coalition Info Fair

Studies estimate that between 50 and 80 percent of trafficked children in California are or were formally involved with the child welfare system. In a FBI 70-city nationwide raid, 60 percent of the victims came from foster care or group homes.  There is high need to prevent trafficking of children through serving kids in the foster care. system  Purpose Church is coming together to show the love of Jesus to the children in foster care within the Pomona area through donating bikes and skateboards to them.  Foster care children are targeted by traffickers because of their need for love, affirmation, and protection.

Victims are trained to call sex traffickers “daddies” and themselves “wifies” – a perverted reflection of the family unit that these children are seeking.  These children long for a family…even if it means being subjected to extreme violence and abuse. (CAS Research and Education)

As we are a part of the Coalition of Christian Foster Care Ministries http://www.fostercarecoalition.com we are thankful to see info fairs and trainings held in various churches and in turn these churches gaining a heart and a vision to make a different in the foster care community around them.  Please pray for this “Bikes and Boards for Kids” event.  That many from the church would be involved in serving the foster kids of the Pomona area and the children involved would experience the real love of Jesus through this event.

Empowering Women to Stop Sex Trafficking

Partnering together… Pastor Krishna and his ministry, Mercy Nepal; Kshamata (an organization in Mumbai, India that helps sex trafficking survivors begin new lives through job training) and Cru, Joseph and I.  Joseph has been meeting with Pastor Krishna as part of LA Reaching LA and encouraging/supporting him in his church planting throughout Nepal.

A Recent Church Plant in Nepal

Mercy Nepal has planted over 50 churches within Nepal and the believers there are passionate about seeing change in their community.  One sobering statistic in Nepal is that every year 5,000-6,000 women and children are trafficked from Nepal into India into the sex trafficking industry.  The traffickers target these women who live in poverty and promise good jobs in India for them (not knowing this job is sex trafficking).  5,000 to 6,000 women is unbelievable and the new churches in Nepal want to stop this evil.  Pastor Krishna approached Joseph to talk about how they could partner and help these women.  Through our connections we found the organization Kshamata located in Mumbai, India and asked if we could partner with them to help these women in Nepal.  We are raising the funds at this time to send 2 women from Nepal to Kshamata for one month.  There they will learn advanced tailoring and design, jewelry making, embroidery and embellishment.  Currently there are 4 training centers in Nepal that Mercy Nepal has formed.  These 2 women we send to Kshamata will bring these advanced skills back to the training centers and teach other women, therefore increasing the amount of women we can help and the advancing the skills needed for these women to be empowered.

Pastor Krishna at 1 of 4 Training Centers in Nepal

What we love the most about this partnership is the local churches in Nepal are coming together to share the gospel and serve the vulnerable women in Nepal— over 50 churches have been planted with over 500 baptisms. Please pray for this partnership.  Pray that we could raise the funds needed to send the first 2 women in December, pray for the churches in Nepal to continue to spread the share the gospel and be able to help these women and pray for the vulnerable women of Nepal.  That this evil would be stopped and the vast amount of women being trafficked from Nepal to India would end.  Here is a video Pastor Krishna created about the sex trafficking crisis in Nepal… https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3vdp7HaoYF4

Thank you for your continual prayers, encouragement and support to us.  We are so thankful for each of you know the work we do here in LA would not be possible without all the prayers and support of so many.  Thank you! 

What is a Church Planting Cohort?

Us with Pastor Reuben from Solid Rock Church

As we have been working in Cru City the past 3 years the Lord has done some amazing things in terms of helping churches grow in their evangelism, discipleship, leadership development and multiplication.  One area we have seen a need for is more training and encouragement to those starting out as pastors and planting churches. Joseph and Pastor Ruben, from Solid Rock Church, have developed an 8 month interactive training for people who desire to plant a church.  They reworked it from the Gospel Coalition and Acts 29 organization.  It is a seminary level training including videos, coaching, discussions, articles, field assignments and textbook readings.  The heart behind this new cohort is to help church planters and planting teams with practical steps on how to start a new church.

Ranji and Joseph at his 60th Birthday Celebration!

Two of these new church plants we are helping are with a husband and wife (Ranji and Neela) who have a call to start a church reaching out to the Sinhalese speaking people of Sri Lanka. This will be the first Sinhalese speaking Sri Lankan church in Los Angeles.  It will also be bi-lingual to have a place for the younger generation of Sri Lankan’s to come to know the Lord.

The other plant we are helping to start is with a husband and wife (Hunter and Gabby) who desire to plant a multi-ethnic church in the Pomona area. Pomona is a very diverse city with only 12% of the population being Caucasian.  Pomona faces high amounts of poverty, crime, sex trafficking, gangs and foster care needs.

A recent Church Cohort training time! (Hunter is on the far left and his wife Gabby second from the right) Ranji is to the right of Joseph

Both Ranji and Neela, as well as Hunter and Gabby are from Solid Rock Church that we helped plant 3 years ago. We love seeing churches not only have a heart for their own congregation but also to reach out with the gospel to the cities around them.  To send out their own members to begin churches in different cities reaching those who are far from God, so they can hear about the love of Jesus.

 How do you stop sex trafficking with children?

We are beginning to plan and connect with local schools in sharing our trafficking prevention curriculum.  The Lord blessed us with the opportunity to share with schools throughout the Los Angeles area the past couple years—being a part of sex trafficking prevention.  The average age girls are trafficked into prostitution in the US is 12-14 years old; and boys is 11-13 years old.  Those are devastating statistics and as we work with survivors here in Los Angeles those statistics now have real faces behind them.  Survivors that Michelle meets with started out at this young age and that is why we feel it is so important to be a part of the  prevention of what is happening—to stop the evil and pain before it happens.

We are partnered with an organization, EveryOne Free, in Pomona. Joseph is on the leadership team there and has helped developed the trafficking curriculum we utilize in the local schools.  This year EveryOne Free has two interns, Yemi and Vintsy, that Joseph is training to help him do the curriculum at South Junior High again this year.  We have a longstanding relationship with this school and speak there every quarter to over 800 7th graders on sex trafficking prevention. Yemi is finishing her Masters of Social Work at Azusa Pacific University and Vintsy is finishing her Bachelor Of Social Work at the same school. Joseph will be training Yemi and Vintsy, who will also begin to speak at additional junior highs and high schools in the Los Angeles area.   Please pray for them as they speak at these schools—that the Lord would use them to help children understand what trafficking is and to be aware of the signs  – to prevent this evil from growing.

FAMILY UPDATE….

School is in full swing, Luke is adjusting well to the College Life. He tells us he enjoys having classes beginning after 10am! 🙂  And we are still blessed to see him once in a while and recently spent a family day at the Fair!

Aleeya just celebrated her 4 year “hearing birthday.” She received her 1st cochlear  implant at age 2.5 and is doing amazing in her listening and speaking, she works so hard.