TESTIMONIES

  “Be devoted to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving,  praying at the same time for us also, that God may open for us a door of the message, to speak the mystery of Christ…” (Colossians 4:2-3 LEB) God has called each person in His Church to take part in His Mission. Through Jesus God is “making all things new”, and until the new creation arrives in its fullness God uses his willing people to advance his kingdom. Every follower of Jesus has a part to play, and every one of us needs the community of God’s church to help us walk out obedience to Him. This means that all of us have two simultaneous roles in the Mission of God: obedience to the work God has given us to do, and to support, encourage, and pray for our brothers and sisters as they do the work God has called them to. Working at GoMission has given us an awesome opportunity to see both sides of participation in the work of the Kingdom. In this process we’ve been deeply encouraged by what we see others doing in obedience to Jesus! Here are some examples from the last few weeks that give a little insight into what some of our day to day looks like working for GoMission!    Natalie with Embrace Grace  Our friend Natalie recently took a position with Embrace Grace, as the regional director for Nashville Tennessee! Embrace Grace is a ministry that equips churches to love and support single mothers and mothers to be!  Before she set off, we got to sit down with Natalie and hear the story of how God has been calling her to this ministry. It turns out that God has been preparing her for a while! You can listen to Natalie’s Embrace Grace Story here! As Natalie shared about her desire to gather a community of support, we were able to develop a GoMission page and some printed materials to help the church partner with her through prayer, financial support and the sharing of testimonies!  Check out Natalie’s GoMission Page! It was so fun to work alongside Natalie over the last month before she moved. We got to hear about the different conversations she was having each week, and all the people who were excited to come alongside her! We even had a chance to go to her send off party and join the many people who were there to show their love and support for Natalie!  It is such a blessing to walk with someone who is already a friend, and watch God open doors and fill His church with excitement for what He is doing in His kingdom, through His daughter!    Jeff and Kristy with Gathering Table We also had the opportunity to attend a Gathering Table Dinner a few weeks ago, and see our good friends Jeff and Kristy in action! The Gathering Table has been around for a few years now, exploring creative ways to share the gospel right here in Clovis! Check out Gathering Table’s GoMission Page!  A Gathering Table Pop-Up Dinner brings people from different walks of life, together around one table. Jeff and Kristy do a great job of creating a welcoming environment where everyone has an opportunity to share about their life, in ways they may not normally get to. Towards the end of the meal, they take time to share a word of encouragement and hope around the gospel of Jesus. It’s amazing how much people willingly opened up, with just a few simple questions, making a way for real conversation about Jesus. We are excited about the future of what Jeff and Kristy are doing!  If you’re interested in attending a Pop-Up Dinner click here!     It has been such a gift to be able to walk alongside people who are saying “Yes!” to Jesus. All these opportunities to support others in their work also reminds us of all the people praying for, encouraging, and supporting us. Thank you all so much!  We feel that God is giving us a unique chance to think about this dual work of personal obedience and supporting others, and giving us time to pray and think about new ways to connect with all of you as we get ready to go to Argentina!     How you can be praying for us: As we work towards the future of GoMission, be praying for wisdom and for God to lead us!  We are continuing to pray about our move to Argentina in June and looking at another short term trip before then! Please pray for our transition and the Vineyard Churches in Argentina!  Please be praying for the other work we are a part of right now especially: guys/girls discipleship group, our church family, and outreach to Fresno State.  

Sunday Morning Slides, Inspiring Missionary Stories, Whiteboards, and the Same Old Things! Argentina Partnership Updates We are working on some different ways we can help our church engage with the churches in Argentina, during the seasons when we don't have teams going to visit! Every month, we video call one of the partnering pastors in Argentina. We ask them about what they are celebrating, what they are challenged by, and their biggest prayer needs. Then we compile that into a bullet point prayer list and put it on a slide to share on a Sunday morning. During the Argentina Update portion of our announcements, we invite our church to take 2 minutes to pray with the people around them, for the needs of the pastors and the church there.  People have already made comments to us about how fun it is to hear how each pastor is doing on a more regular basis, which was encouraging! We are hoping that even this simple prayer moment on a Sunday, will keep the mission God has called us to as a body in front of us!    Live the Mission Conference  We had the opportunity to attend Mountain View Church’s Live the Mission Conference a couple weeks ago! We felt so blessed to sit in a room with so many different missionaries from all over, hearing stories of what God has done and is doing in their countries. It got us excited about some ways we can help further develop GoMission.Church but also encouraged us as we continue to prepare to move to Argentina. One major highlight from the conference was from a session led by a pastor from  Eastern Germany, who said that you have to “start before you’re ready” when it comes to missions and church planting. He shared stories about how God gave him just enough to get started but how he had to wait for the provision to get through! We felt encouraged to keep stepping out in faith before we have all the answers, if we feel God is speaking and the people around us are affirming that it’s God speaking! It was such a great time to connect with people doing similar work that we are hoping to do in Argentina and hear testimonies of God drawing people to himself!   Auditing for GoMission.Church One of Jared’s main roles in GoMission.Church is auditing all of our internal documents and processes, helping to organize and unify language, communications, and vision. We have had fun going over the vision for GoMission and strengthening how we communicate this internally as well as with missionaries and pastors! Our meetings lately have looked like rolling out the big white board, Meghan writing out notes or concepts, Pastor Andy and Jared collaborating to ground all that we do in scripture, many ideas written down to save for later, and sometimes tacos! We are really enjoying working as a team along with Pastor Andy to further develop GoMission.Church, to better serve the churches in our city, missionaries, and ultimately God’s kingdom!   Annnnd all the usual things! Along with our work at GoMission, we are still taking time to pray about moving Argentina and for Argentina! Our morning prayer times with our church are still going strong, with a main topic being prayer for open doors for fruitful ministry at Fresno State, for our church to participate in. We have made it into our 10th week of the Guys/Girls “New Life” Groups, and are seeing our young adults press into more of what God has for them. This past Sunday we got to lead worship together for the first time at our church, which was very sweet and made us even more excited to grow in leading worship together!    A snapshot from a Missionary Panel at the Live the Mission Conference!    Behind the scenes look at our GoMission Auditing/Planning Whiteboard sessions! A screenshot from the livestream this past Sunday, when we got to lead worship together! A great meal and time of fellowship at the Girls “New Life” Group Meghan is helping lead!    How you can pray: - Continued discernment as we work on developing GoMission.Church and preparing things for the people after us! - Discernment and wisdom in preparations for moving to Argentina and ideas on how to better connect our church here with the churches there! - For our Guys/Girls “New Life” Groups, that the Lord would continue to draw them deeper and that they would answer His call!  

Being a Bridge   Part of the Summer Internship Program was partnering with a local ministry to serve and bless them. It was also an opportunity for the interns to practice putting together an outreach, casting vision, and inviting others to join them in it! We had the opportunity to partner with University Vineyard Church to help run the Missional Outreach portion of a youth leadership camp called "Project Timothy," which brought together 50 youth from churches all across California. The goal of the outreach portion of the camp was to give the students a chance to help plan an outreach, serve their community, and practice sharing the love of Jesus. Leading up to the camp, the interns spent time praying about what the outreach could look like and came away with three potential outreaches: City Center, Poverello House, and Treasure Hunting (an evangelism activity we learned from our friends at Mountain View Church). These were all ministries or outreaches we had partnered with or participated in earlier during the internship. The interns paired off and created an outline for each outreach. When the camp arrived, each pair presented the outreach opportunities, and the youth got to choose which one they wanted to help plan and execute! The interns then helped guide the planning conversations, prayed with the youth, and led the outreach day.   Interns Presenting the Outreach Options at Project Timothy!   Each Youth student prayed about which outreach they should help with, then took a sticky note with their name and stuck it on the board!   Each pair did an incredible job presenting and shepherding their outreach, leading with confidence and relying on Jesus! The youth came back from their outreaches having had meaningful conversations that led to praying for people, opportunities to bless the community, and new ideas for how they could do something similar in their own local areas. The interns modeled for these youth kids, that they aren’t too young to do the things God has set before them to do!  One of the volunteer leaders for the youth camp, had shared with us that God had already been putting it on her heart, to go and serve at the Poverello House. She was able to go be a part of that outreach day with the youth and since, has gathered a group of other young people in her church to go serve together! The youth camp facilitators also needed help leading a "Girls and Guys Day," where they split the students up to have conversations around God's heart for love, relationships, and sexuality. Because of GoMission.Church's relationship with The Hope Team at Pregnancy Care Center, we were able to connect University Vineyard with The Hope Team so they could come and share on these topics.   Emily and Dorthy from Pregnancy Care Center's Hope Team presenting the "Girls Day" at Project Timothy!   After partnering with University Vineyard for the youth camp, we realized we were being a bridge between this local church and three local ministries! It was amazing to step back and see the Lord using us to engage the people of God at University Vineyard with the mission of God in our local area, for His glory.  We feel really blessed to be getting to serve the local church in this way, and are thankful for those of you who are partnering in prayer and financially. Please continue to pray with us, over the interns… that they would now also get to be a bridge between their local churches and local ministries!      Want to learn more about the three ministries we partnered with? Click the links below! City Center -  https://citycenterfresno.org/ Poverello House - https://poverellohouse.org/ Pregnancy Care Center - https://pregnancycarecenter.com/ The Hope Team at Pregancy Care Center - https://www.instagram.com/hopeforfresno/  

Preparing in the Present We are off to a great start to the summer, with our church’s youth being sent out to Argentina, the GoMission.Church Internship, and some exciting ways we are getting to practically prepare for what God has ahead of us!    Youth group trip to Argentina Our church just sent out a team of youth to visit the church partners in Argentina! They will be gone for two weeks, serving and ministering to the church communities in three different cities. We are so expectant that the Lord will move in and through this group of young people. Click here to read daily updates from the youth, during their trip!   GoMission Summer Internship - Week 3 As we shared in our last update, the GoMission.Church Summer Internship is here! We are in our third week of sessions and have already seen how the Lord is speaking and meeting us when we give Him the space in our days. We have had the privilege to (already) have met with 9 different ministry leaders in our city, hearing about topics like Abiding in Jesus, College Campus ministry, The Glory of God and what that means, God’s design for work and rest, local evangelism efforts, speakers personal testimonies, and so much more! We are enjoying getting to know each intern and watch as the Lord invites them further into the plans He has for them. Please pray with us, over the interns, that God would draw them closer to His heart and show them how they can partner with His restoration work in our city!     Tour of Pregnancy Care Center!   Project to help Prodigal Church with their VBS signs!   Teaching on Work + Rest with Pastor Jeremy White!     Practicing at home As we think about preparing for Argentina, we have noticed how many opportunities God is giving us to practice the things we feel called to do there, here and now. God has provided us with a great little apartment, a wonderful community and family around us, and so many opportunities to disciple and walk alongside young people. We are enjoying these gifts very much, which also makes it hard to think about leaving for Argentina, at times. However, it is SO encouraging to look at our life and see how God has us in His training school, teaching us everything we will need for the next step. Here are some specific areas that God is teaching us in: Jared is inviting a small group of young men in our church to regularly gather together, and encurage one another in the daily realities of following Jesus. And the GoMission Internship is another opportunity that we have to, together, walk alongside young people in the mission of God! Right now we feel challenged to engage in prayer in a more radical way. You may remember one of Jared’s updates while he was back in Argentina, Starting with Prayer, where he shared about devoting time to prayer because of the reality that we can’t do anything without Jesus. God has been stirring our church here in Fresno to give an hour each morning to intercession, 6:30am-7:30am Monday - Friday. We felt an invitation from the Lord to go every morning for two weeks, to participate in what God is doing and practice starting everything we do with prayer. Hospitality is something we want to prioritize in our marriage, welcoming people into our home and sharing life together. This is something we anticipate getting to a lot of in Argentina! People are very hospitable and open their homes to each other, which is a part of the culture we are excited to participate in! What this looks like now is inviting young people from our church to come, have a meal, and fellowship together. We have been on the receiving end of some really generous hospitality lately that has blessed and inspired us to do the same with others! How you can join us in prayer:   That the Lord would continue to stir our hearts and the church to press into prayer! That Jesus would help us to be faithful with the things we have going on in this season, that we would steward it well!  

  Laying Foundations as “The Durans!” Getting married, preparing for what’s next, and soaking in God’s words.   On April 25th, we got married and have officially begun this new chapter of life and ministry TOGETHER! On our honeymoon we enjoyed getting to look forward to all the things God is leading us into this year at home and preparing for the move to Argentina.   (Jared) In marriage we commit to each other through the giving of our words to love each other in covenant for the rest of our lives. In this covenant we both choose to trust and build our lives around those words of commitment that we spoke in front of our community and before God. We trust with our future, that we will both be faithful to the words we have spoken. This forms the foundation of our lives together. It’s the same between God and His Church. He has spoken words committing to a covenant with us. His words are faithful without the weakness and frailty that our words have. He invites us to renew our minds by reading His covenant promises in the scriptures and reminding ourselves daily of what He has given His un-shaking word to.  In response, we give our word (weak as it is) to trust and obey walking in that covenant with our bridegroom and Lord.    (Meghan) We have felt an invitation from the Lord in this season of beginning marriage, to pursue a daily rhythm of being in the Word of God, together. Soaking in the Word, reminds me everyday, what story I am living in. I am reminded of who God is, and really, who He has always been. It blows my mind how faithfully, God keeps His word to His people, even when they completely fail. God even decides to hold up both ends of the covenant because He knows, people can’t do it on their own. I need that. I need that humbling reminder through the stories of those who walked before me, that I am weak and can’t do this on my own. I can’t even hold up my commitment to follow Jesus by myself. I need to be filled by His word and Spirit each day.  This simple practice of just pursuing God in His word, has already been such an encouragement for both of us. God is teaching me to trust that when I stay soaking in and holding onto His words, treasuring them in my heart, that He is filling me with what I need to follow Him.   “...It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4   This is what we get to invite the GoMission.Church Summer Interns into in just a couple weeks… (click to read more about it!) We are going to be encouraging them to fill themselves with God’s word, to seek Him, and to participate in His story of restoration in the world. We are currently working on gathering different leaders in the local church, who are living on mission in whatever context they work in, to come and teach/share with our interns throughout the program.  Here is how you can join us in prayer for the internship! We are asking for: The Lord to fill the interns with a hunger for more of what He has for them. Provision for the practical things we need to run the internship. And wisdom and discernment in the weeks leading up to the internship, for Jared and I as we continue preparing.  We are also prayerfully keeping Argentina in front of us and staying connected, through monthly Zoom calls, with the Vineyard pastors and their families who are in Argentina already. (We also just ordered a map of Argentina to put up in our apartment, to have a physical reminder as well!) We are excited for the things God will teach us and the tools He will provide, in this year of preparation, that will help us serve the Church when we move to Argentina!     Thank you all for partnering with us in the things God has called us to. We are so thankful to have a team of people praying with us and sharing in this adventure with Jesus! We pray that the Lord would bless you as you continue to seek Him!  

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:33    Hey everyone! This is a joint update which you will be seeing more of in the near future as we (Jared and Meghan) join our lives together!  We are in the middle of a crazy (and really fun) time of transition, with Jared moving back to Fresno and joining the staff at GoMission. We are also planning the GoMission Internship together and are less than two weeks out from our wedding!  We would really appreciate your prayers over this time, just for grace in the midst of this big life change! One thing that we’ve found SO helpful in the hectic nature of this season, has been moments of stopping… reorienting our attention back to Jesus and His Kingdom… and remembering what all these things are about.  Our prayer for you (and continually for ourselves) is that in the middle of whatever your season of life is filled with, that you would feel the nudge of the Holy Spirit to stop… pray… and refocus your eyes back on the one who is really the center of it all. 

God Causes the Growth          “What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.” 1 Corinthians 3:5-9 Our Part and God’s Part  Often, I find myself thinking about the interplay between God’s sovereign work and my participation. On the one hand, it can be easy to believe that all the results of my life and ministry depend solely on me and what I do. On the other hand, it can feel like nothing I do matters at all, and it ultimately is just up to God. What’s so beautiful about this passage in 1 Corinthians is that it strikes right to the heart of this tension. Paul tells us here that each one is given an assignment by God, that God invites us to participate in the growth that only he can cause. Like little kids helping a parent, we bring nothing to the table, but God, our Father, still invites us to co-labor with him.  The way this passage describes our partnership with God in the work of ministry gives me such excitement and freedom to passionately work with all of my heart in the assignment God has given me, but never too try and carry the crushing weight of what is only God’s responsibility. As John Piper once put it: “My job is faithfulness. God’s is fruitfulness.” Here in Mendoza, our little church community has been experiencing the reality of this passage as we launched our first public English-speaking services!  Public English Service  On February 22nd, we started our service in the upstairs of the Vina Rock Cafe (where the Spanish church meets), and all three weekends so far, we have had new people visiting! There are already so many kids coming that we had to start a children's ministry! Each week we worship, take communion together, have a short teaching, and pray. After service, the whole group gathers for lunch at someone’s house, and usually, we all stay for hours before anyone heads home.   Here are some photos from those first few gatherings:       The week of the launch, every one of the families on the team had so much going on. A lot of unexpected things popped up at the last minute. In many ways, our launch of the first service was not “Ideal”, but God is faithful, and as each one in our group said yes to the small assignment that God gave, he started to do what he promised: build his church.       I think this analogy of plant growth that Paul used can also be applied to our own personal growth in Jesus. We don’t have the power to cause growth in our lives. We can’t make ourselves more like Jesus, but we can make sure to bring the water and nutrients that we need (The word of God, a life lived in the community of his Church, time spent with our Father in prayer) and pull the weeds (sin and distraction) but the only other thing we can do is wait for God to cause the growth. My prayer for each of us is that we would be fervent in our weeding and watering, while resting in the goodness of our Father, the good gardener, to cause the growth.   Here are a few of the ways you can be praying right now!   Pray that the leadership team for the English service would be solidified and that each person would find their role. Specifically pray for Ted and Michelle, and Mark and Leah, and their families as they take on these responsibilities and the weight that comes with them.   Pray for some of the people coming to the service who still haven’t made a commitment to follow Jesus   And please pray for my transition back home for this next season of getting married and preparing to relaunch out to Argentina for a longer commitment!

Max's Story   Hey everyone! This update is going to be a little bit different! I just wanted to share with you a testimony from someone who is a part of the church here! Max recently had a really beautiful encounter with Jesus that has completely changed his life. His parents say he is like a totally different kid. Max and I have been spending lots of time together lately, and our discipleship meet-ups consist mostly of reading the bible and playing chess while we talk about following Jesus. The thing that makes Max's story here extra powerful and encouraging is the fact that Max is one of the people that our church has been praying for by name for the last few months. It's so exciting to see how powerfully God moves when we ask, even though we may see nothing at first. I'm reminded of how Jesus ends the parable of the widow and the unjust judge:  And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?  I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” I love that Jesus tells us that when we ask, God won't be slow in answering the fervent prayers of His people. Just a few days ago, I asked Max if he wanted to share with the people in the United States who are praying for us and our church. So we sat down together at a coffee shop and wrote it out. Everything in the story below is Max's words and what he wanted to share. I hope it's as encouraging for you as it is to me!    “Hi, my name is Max, I’m 15 and I’m from Austin Texas and now live in Mendoza Argentina. When I was younger I knew about God, but I didn’t have a real relationship with Him, or know that I could really talk to Him and know Him. About a year ago I started hanging out with the wrong crowd and felt pressured into smoking and using drugs. I started struggling with school and skipping classes. At the same time I began struggling with pornography. During all this I felt like I was a disappointment to my family because of my grades, I felt empty and I stopped caring about my future. Then one night when I was planning to go buy some weed, my mom forced me to go to a prayer/ministry night with the Vineyard church and a pastor from out of town. After the pastor started praying I felt guilt and conviction for all the things I was doing. I started crying and then everyone started praying over me. When they were praying I started feeling the mercy of Jesus and how patient he had been with me. My guilt that I had felt suddenly turned into joy. I felt really loved by God for the first time The next day all of my desire for the bad things that I was doing before was almost gone, and for the first time in a long time I felt happy! I started wanting to read the Bible more than ever before and I started learning that God is always talking to me if I stop and listen.  That same week when I was praying I felt like God said that one of my friends was having a hard time and that I should talk to him about it. I asked him and he told me that he was having a hard time with his church (his family is Jehovah's witness). I told him it isn’t about just going to church but really getting to know God and asked if I could pray for him and he said yes. Later that day I asked if he wanted to pray and then he prayed for us too even though I had never heard him pray before that!  Now I’m excited for the future and what God is teaching me. I’m praying and reading the Bible almost everyday now and I feel like I’m a little baby again and that I just get to hold God’s hand and grow up with Him.”   Please keep praying with us for more people to experience Jesus like this! This is the beautiful fruit of your prayers and the prayers of our small community here! Thank you!!     A few more quick updates and things to pray with us for:  Our English service "soft launched" (basically just our most committed people) two weeks ago. Our first public service where we invite everyone is set to start Febuary 22nd Max and his parents are becoming more and more our core team here at the church. Please take some time to bless what God is already doing in their family! This week the whole Vineyard Argentina Partnership (4 churches from the States will be represented, along with the pastors of 3 churches and 1 other ministry here in Argentina) is gathering in Buenos Aires for prayer fellowship and dreaming about the future of what God is doing here. Please be praying for God to bless this time and that he would continue to lead us. Thank you all so much again for being a part of this with us. I'm so excited to share how it all goes in the next update!   

New Year and Life/Ministry Update!   Hey everyone! Happy New Year! I’m just getting ready to head back to Argentina after a very sweet time with friends and family over Christmas break, filled with good food, stories, and encouragement. I’m excited to share with you all some life and ministry updates that are very relevant for this next year! Meghan and I got engaged! We are looking forward to getting to do the things God has called us both to do, but as a team! This means we will be moving to Argentina to continue to participate in what God is doing in the Vineyard churches there. In this transition, through prayer and discernment with friends and mentors, we’ve decided to take a year in Fresno after getting married at the end of April, to prepare for the move to Argentina in the summer of 2027. We don’t know what everything will look like yet, but we would love if you could pray with us about both our year of preparation in Fresno and our move to Argentina. Here are some specific things you could join us in praying for in this season: This season of engagement… preparing for marriage, Jared’s last 3 months in Mendoza, and all that comes with planning a wedding. Our first year of marriage… direction from the Lord about priorities for that year, provision for a place to live, and preparation for the transition to Argentina. In summary, I will be returning to Mendoza for the next 3 months before coming back for our wedding in April, and spend a year preparing to return to Argentina for a long-term commitment with Meghan. One of the things that God has been using to help me think about this transition over the past few weeks is the old phrase, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” I’m excited to take this time to prepare for a longer-term assignment in Argentina together.   The remaining time in Mendoza will be focused on supporting some of our new leaders and helping them step into all that God is calling them to! My prayer is that by the time I leave back to Fresno for the wedding, Mark and Karina will feel they have a strong team of leaders that they can rely upon for each area of ministry in the church! We are also currently looking at shifting the way that the Vineyard Argentina partnership’s state-side churches support our in-country leaders. Please be praying for wisdom as we restructure our support system to better serve and help our leaders.   Thank you all so much for your prayers and your support! I’m excited to keep sharing with you everything God is doing in Mendoza! Over the next few months, I plan to reach out to each of you individually and share in more detail about the transition!

Looking Back and Ahead            “I shall remember the deeds of the LORD;           Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.           I will meditate on all Your work           And muse on Your deeds.           Your way, O God, is holy;           What god is great like our God?           You are the God who works wonders;           You have made known Your strength among the peoples.           You have by Your power redeemed Your people…”   Psalm 77:11–15     Looking Back As we arrive at the end of another year, I am continually reminded of the many exhortations in scripture to “remember”. It’s so easy to be on “autopilot” constantly moving from one thing to the next (especially during the holiday season), and often we can miss an opportunity to look back, remember, and celebrate what God has done. Here are some things I am looking back on and celebrating over the last 5 months that I have been here in Argentina!    Prayer in the Church Since the time I arrived at the church here in Mendoza, there has been a huge shift in the culture of prayer. Twice a week, there are devoted times of prayer, but the change is so much deeper than just a change in scheduled meetings. Each of our Sunday services now ends with prayer ministry, and people are stopping to pray for each other and offering prayer way more regularly. A few weeks back, one of our midweek groups had a very small turnout, and the few people present decided to devote the entire time of the group to prayer! Clearly, God is drawing the hearts of his people here more and more towards prayer.   Ministry on the Streets It was so exciting that as we prayed and asked God for ways to be a blessing to the city of Mendoza, He was so quick to answer! We have continued to go out to the streets either once or twice a week to offer food, prayer, and company to those living there. A few more people from the church have gotten involved, and the church has decided to start financially supporting the work as well!    Trip to Cordoba and John’s Visit  At the end of November, Pastor John Aureli from the Mission Vineyard in San Antonio, Texas, came to visit and encourage the church here and also in Cordoba! I was given the opportunity to travel to Cordoba and spend time with the leaders of another church there. The time was incredibly sweet and encouraging.  We got to celebrate with the church as they baptised a whole family from one of the neighborhoods they minister in!  Afterwards, John and I traveled together back to Mendoza, where John led our community in a powerful time of waiting on the Holy Spirit and listening for how God may want to minister. The whole church walked away from the time excited and encouraged to continue in the work God has given us.   Looking Ahead What’s especially beautiful about the psalmist's example of remembering in Psalm 77 is that he is using this remembering of what God has already done and what He has proven of His character to look ahead. The Psalm starts in a place of despair, but through remembrance of what God has already done (even long before the author was born), the psalmist arrives at a confidence that God will continue to display his faithfulness and love despite circumstances that would contradict this idea. So, in light of all God has already done this year, here are some of the things I am really excited for next year. Please join me in praying for: The official start of a public Sunday morning church service for our English-speaking community! We have pulled together a team of a few leaders who are already praying and planning through what it’s going to look like to start this service in the new year. Our meetings have been really encouraging, and I am so excited to see what God does!  Expansion of the Street Ministry. We have been dreaming together about what it could look like to expand the work we are doing in our ministry to the poor. We have been reaching out to some of the shelters in our area and looking into appointing a few leaders to lead more groups going out. I’m so excited to watch this move from a small group going each week to the whole church getting involved in different ways. From cooking and cleaning to prayer and giving rides to church, there are so many ways for our entire community to start being involved in what God is doing! Partnership Meeting in February. This coming February, all three of the Argentine churches that are part of the partnership we be getting together with the American churches in Buenos Aires for a time of encouragement, prayer, and fellowship! These gatherings always encourage a deeper sense of belonging and help to fight off the threat of isolation and loneliness that so often accompanies leadership in the church     My hope and prayer for each of you is that even right now, you could take one moment to remember something good God has done in the last year, give thanks, and then think of how He may be wanting to move this next year. I hope your holidays are filled with excitement and hope for things to come! Thank you all so much for all your encouragement and prayer through this first part of my time here in Argentina!  During my time at home in Fresno over the holidays, I will be meeting with mentors and praying for direction and wisdom as I make decisions about the future. Please join me in prayer, and feel free to reach out! I hope to see many of you when I am home this month!

Channels for God "On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive…"   Mendoza is a desert. It’s famous for more than 300 days of sunshine each year. Rain is rare here (In fact, Mendoza gets less rain each year on average than Fresno), and yet. Mendoza is filled with thriving trees. Almost every city block is shaded by massive green trees.     How can these beautiful trees thrive in such a dry environment? The answer is actually really cool. Mendoza is located very near the Andes Mountain range, and as the weather warms up in the summertime, the snow in the Andes begins to melt and supply water to the Mendoza River. In turn, the Mendoza River supplies a massive network of irrigation canals (or acequias) that run up and down nearly every street of the city and through many of the parks and plazas. This water is fed right into the soil that supports the thriving plant life of Mendoza.       This layout for the city really got me thinking about our role as the Church. Jesus says that from the hearts of those who believe in him would flow the living water of his Spirit. We get to operate as channels through which God can flow. These acequias in Mendoza come in all shapes and sizes; some run through grassy parks and some down small alleys, but all of them provide a way for water to reach the city, and wherever that water flows, life follows. Everywhere we go, as we interact with friends, neighbors, co-workers, and family, we get to offer the living water of the God who lives in us. It's not through striving or trying really hard; it's just through having a real relationship with Jesus and being available to the people around us all over our cities. Different channels supply water to different places, but all of them are needed for each part of the city to thrive.     This last week I had some really cool opportunities to see how God is working this out in my own life! The first was with a friend I've just met who is from here in Mendoza. We get together for coffee so I can practice Spanish and he can practice English. He doesn't know Jesus yet. As we talked about our lives, he was sharing with me about the lack of community he is experiencing, and I got to share with him about our church and the community that we have. I invited him to come and join us, and he expressed interest. I'm hoping he will come join us soon!  The Second was with my Spanish teacher, who is also originally from Mendoza. She also hasn't met Jesus yet, but when we were practicing conversation in Spanish, we couldn't decide what to talk about, and she said, "You're religious, right? Why don't you tell me about that?" and I got a chance to just freely share with her some of the ways that Jesus has changed my life. She told me she was very impacted by what I shared, and I'm hoping for more opportunities in the days to come to share more with her! In both of these moments, it felt so clearly like God was giving an opportunity, and all I had to do was be honest about my life with the people he put in front of me. I didn't have to have everything completely planned and figured out. I just got to be a channel for God. My prayer is that in these conversations and the ones to come would offer them a little living water that would make them thirsty for the source.     Right now, the most pressing requests for prayer are: - My friend and my Spanish teacher from the stories above! - Our core leadership group for the English-speaking community is gathering for the first time this week to plan and pray! - Continued prayer for my Spanish learning. - Prayer for Pastor Mark and Karina and the Vineyard church here in Mendoza  

Making Room   "...you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit." Ephesians 2:19-22   Hey everyone! Over the last month, there has been a lot going on here in Mendoza at the church! There are a lot of exciting opportunities coming up for partnerships with other churches and ministries, as well as the start of some really important conversations about our goals and priorities in this season as leaders in this community. God has continued to put on my heart the centrality of prayer and dependence on Him and His leadership over our ideas and strategies, and we have continued to move in this direction! We are still dedicating time before our Sunday night meetings to pray, and we have also started a weekly English-speaking gathering focused on fasting, prayer, and worship. Our goal is that prayer would be the heartbeat of everything we do. That the focus would be not on what we can do, but on what God can do.     We have also been making progress towards preparing the new space for our English-speaking community to use. The whole project is moving much more slowly than we were originally hoping, but we are still definitely getting closer to having this space ready to use! All the demo work is done, and we should be making some major progress this week!     Throughout the whole story of the Scriptures, there is a recurring theme that whatever is fully given over to God, He fills with His presence. First, the tabernacle, as it's made holy and fully consecrated to God, is filled powerfully with God's Spirit. This happens again with the construction and dedication of the temple by Solomon. Then, at the start of the book of Acts, the disciples gather together in prayer and wait on God. In this Holy space of waiting and prayer, as they offer themselves to God, they are filled with His empowering Presence for the sake of the Gospel.    In both our times of prayer and as we prepare a physical space to be devoted to God and His Church, we are clearing spaces in our lives and community for God to come and fill. This not only happens at a community level but also at a very practical personal level. The more space God is given in our hearts and lives, the more we will be able to see and experience His kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus said it like this.   "...he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it." Mark 8:34-35   As we let go of our own lives and deny ourselves, Jesus will fill that empty space with His very own life. Right now in my life, this practically looks like going for walks that are set apart just for talking with God. Other times, it can even look like just taking 2 minutes to be silent and give God my full attention and remember that He is with me, but whatever way I choose to make space for God, I find that somehow, He always fills it. Sometimes in major ways, sometimes very subtly, but time, space, and attention given over fully to Jesus is never wasted.   Thank you all again so much for your prayers. I'm excited to keep sharing with you all that God is doing here! If you are interested in hearing more about what is going on here in Mendoza, I'm planning to host an hour-long Zoom call on Sunday, October 26th, at 5:30 pm (PDT). This will be a time where I can share a few of the things going on here as well as answer any questions you may have about life and ministry here in Argentina! I hope to see you then! Here is the link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83449502648   Thank you all so much for all of your encouragement, prayers, and support! If you haven't already, please sign up for my WhatsApp prayer group! Click here to join the WhatsApp Prayer group!   Please be praying for: Pastor Mark and Karina as they lead this community Discernment in vision and direction for the church (especially as it relates to discipleship and partnering with other groups) My continued Spanish learning process Fresh personal experience of the Gospel for each member of our community