Hey how’s life?

I created a video newsletter this time instead of paper like normal. Let me know what you think, is video or paper better?

Stick around till the end for an exciting announcement 😬

Getting Started in Chico

It can be hard to illustrate what God is doing in our lives. The other day Kessa said, “Elliott you seem happier than you have been in a long time.” And you know? It’s true. Since getting back to the west coast it is as if a weight has been lifted from our shoulders.

Shaky Smiling Journey

The move back to California. We made it back to California right before a big storm hit most of the US. It seems that every step of the way God has had our backs. Our car ended up needing $13,000 in repairs after our drive yet most of it was covered by our warranty! After a couple generous donations by our supporters we ended u paying about $1,500 for the repairs.

Support

We have been shifting our supporters over to the new system. As things are settling down it appears we have gotten most everyone moved over. If you haven’t moved your donation over yet please call me ASAP. Thank you everyone who has been with us through this journey in missions. Your support has made everything we do possible. Thank you for sticking with us through all the changes and trusting in God’s plan with us. We gained some support in this transition but also lost about $650 a month in support. Yet with our lowered costs we are doing okay. If you know anyone we should speak to about missions let us know.

The differences in ministry fields is extreme. In NYC we worked with missionaries who were underfunded at $10,000 a month and now in Chico we are know some missionaries who are living on $0-350 a month with kids. God has provided for our every need and those of the other missionaries we know. When we become stressed and lose sight of the fact that it is all in God’s hands that is when we fail. In the hands of God there is peace.

“The eternal God is your refuge,

and underneath are the everlasting arms.“ (Deuteronomy 33:27)

Which generates enough electricity in winter to run the base all year. Learning to run the hydropower plant is allowing the missionary that normally runs it to take a much needed vacation.

While with the office I am taking on the communications role once again. I will be recording testimonies of missionaries coming back from Japan and Cambodia. Furthermore I am cleaning up the website making it more cost effective and better at recruiting potential missionaries. So far we have identified ways of cutting costs over $3,000 a year. And it is just the first week here.

Faith Forum

The Faith Forum podcast has hit the ground running. It is not really a ministry per se but I am hoping that it will be meaningful and informative to myself and others as we seek to grow and understand the Church in America.

We have 5 published episodes so far and another 20 scheduled and on the way. I am especially excited about episode #6 which comes out 1/29.

Prayer Requests

• That we adjust well

• That God continues to provide

• Pray for Kessa and the kids to make friends in this new place

• Pray that we find the right church to connect with while in Chico

• Thank God for providing for our needs

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We Made it!

We are back in California for now. We had a mostly uneventful 5 day drive cross country full of snack breaks and 14 hours drives. Although in New Mexico we saw a cop car chase! We got to visit with Kessa’s parents and brother for a couple days before heading over to Elliott’s parents for a few days until YWAM Chico is ready for us to get there.

The Move

Getting all our stuff down the stairs was quite the task it took about 8 hours with help. I must of gone up and down the stairs 50 times which is about 2500 feet up and down or almost a mile vertical.

New Donations Method

We are now receiving donations through First Street Church in Clovis California. We attended this church while living in Clovis and it is where Kessa’s parents attend. They support our ministry and have generously offered to be our fiduciary sponsor. What that means is that they will oversee all donations coming in. This also means that your donations are still tax deductible. When we worked at International Project we would receive 90% of the funds donated to us with the other 10% going to administration. But now with it going through the church we will be receiving 100% of each donation! Your ongoing support is seriously appreciated as we continue to follow God’s will for our lives.

Please Note: Your current donations through International Project will expire 1/22/24

Your continued support for our ministry is what makes everything we do possible. So thank you! I will be in touch to help you transfer your donations or you are welcome to get started by clicking the button below. If you have any questions please call me.

Podcast?

Apparently I am starting a podcast. I am going to be interviewing pastors and nonprofit leaders about the state of Christianity in America as well as problems they have faced in ministry and how they have overcome them. It is exciting to see this idea take form. It’s going to be called Faith Forum. I already have 70 speakers lined up but I am still on the lookout for more so if you are interested in coming on the podcast or know of a pastor or nonprofit leader who should be on let me know Here.

Some of the people I am looking forward to interviewing are church planters, adoption agency founders, authors, Christian book publishers, Christian radio station founder, tent crusaders, anti human traffickers, homeless shelter directors, and pastors.

You can subscribe to the Youtube Channel to watch the podcast or stay up to date about it on Facebook

The Story Continues

God has shocked us in the many ways he has met our needs this past year and especially this past month. We are exploring the idea of starting a nonprofit called Our Faith Works. The non profit would focus on training churches and volunteers how to run communications for their church. This idea is still is its early stages but maybe in the next few months it will form into something for the glory of God. Here is the website for Version 1 of the idea OurFaith.Works

Happy New Year!

I hope you had a great Christmas and new year. Know that you are in our prayers continually and if you ever have any special prayer requests please let us know.

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Hello and Merry Christmas!

Newsletter

Within the chaos God is there. God says in Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Isn’t that a Good reminder? We are officially leaving International Project at the end of the year. But we are continuing to serve God and do ministry however and wherever he may call us.

God has been teaching us this past year how to be at peace in the midst of the chaos of life. Our time in NYC has been meaningful yet we believe now is the time to move. Our lease is ending at the end of this year and I have been able to accomplish most of what I originally set out to do at International Project.

The plan is to drive back across the country to California on December 29th with a U-Haul trailer. Which should be especially fun considering I have never driven a trailer before. Once in California we will visit with some of our family and friends before heading up to YWAM Chico. YWAM stands for Youth With A Mission. Their motto is “To know God and to make Him known“ YWAM Chico trains people to be missionaries at their base in Chico as well as holding conferences for churches and other missions organizations. The plan is to go there for three months and help where ever we are needed! I will be helping with the marketing side of things helping to recruit more people into missions just like I have been doing at International Project.

We will be at YWAM Chico for 3 months while we continue asking God where we are to go. We are continuing to look for a pastoral position as God is pulling on my heart to minister to people directly. Yet in the meantime we will serve God anyway we can.

I will not be working at International Project next year, but I am planning on continuing to be available through January as new people are being trained. These past couple weeks I have been training a couple people in the office how to do the stuff I have been doing. As well as finishing up our end of year projects. Such as running Facebook ads, emails, etc for our end of year campaign. And building a new missionary media kit. That helps new missionaries build connection cards, follow our brand guidelines, and ensure peoples security through a more thorough understanding of International Project policies.

Donations

We are going to continue to receive donations through International Project through January 22, 2024. Please bear with us as we are still figuring out the best way to receive donations after that.

Prayer Requests

Pray that our car and trailer make it to California safely.

Pray for my Driving.

Pray that I can leave the work in NYC in good hands.

Pray that Kessa’s parents have a safe visit to NYC this week.

Thank God for allowing us to serve him this past year.

Thank God for guiding us every step of the way.

BTW - Website Update

• I just created a short marriage course for goal setting in the new year

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Volume 14

Huge Announcement

We are going to be leaving International Project soon. Working and living in NYC has been an amazing experience but our needs are not being met here. As you may know NYC is expensive and funding has been an ongoing issue. Furthermore, life in the city is quite challenging and even dangerous at times. The good here has mostly outweighed the bad. Yet we feel a strong calling towards God’s people. The work I have done in the office at International Project is important but I want see lives changed one on one, to serve a community as a pastor.

Looking Back

While working with International Project has been a great learning experience for our family. When I first joined IP I came with the goal of helping update the communications side of things. Over our time here, I have been able to update the website making it significantly faster, develop the brand style, shine a light on security issues for the missionaries, help increase the number of potential missionaries at IP, set up many new systems, and help raise funds for campaigns. It has been a blessing to work with so many people who have stepped out in faith to follow God. The memories of our time here will last a lifetime, and I will be telling the stories of our time here for years to come. We are not leaving IP or the city yet. We are still waiting for God to guide us where to go. But soon we will be moving on.

Looking Ahead

We have been talking to many different churches and praying about where God is calling us. This past week we went on a trip to Wisconsin to visit a small church plant. We are presently asking God if this is where he is calling us to.

Right Now

Right now at IP our team is working together to get the Year End Campaign off the ground. Trish, our development director is hoping to raise over $100,000 this year from the campaign. To that end I got to build a lot of web pages to process those donations, help write and build several emails and a letter, and set up a couple Instagram and Facebook ad tests. The other day in the office we packed and sent almost a thousand letters! It was an all day project. We got to know each other better and explore the biblical complexity of prayer from multiple angles!

Important

We have not stopped working at IP yet. So please continue your giving towards our work here in NYC. Your support makes everything we do possible. Thank You! Note: When we leave International Project we plan to call each and everyone of our supporters. So rest assures we will keep you in the loop.

Please Pray

• Pray that we trust in God with the upcoming changes in our lives

• Thank God for our restful trip to Wisconsin

• Ask God to guide us on our journey

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Updates…

The office is brimming with potential. Thanks to the generous support you have provided us I have been able to make updates to International Project’s website and make optimizations. Those updates have led to the number of inquiries about becoming a missionary being DOUBLED! Compared to this time last year. From 1 person a day to 2. Kaitlyn our Mobilizer that deals with initial contacts is being deluged with calls and has 7 interviews to do on 10/4. I have hoping that with God’s help we can double that number again by the end of the year.

Updates

• As we continue raising funds we have switched to working part time as that is all that our funding allows us to pay for.

• We got to host a young christian woman in our apartment for a couple days while repairs were done on her apartment.

• We hired a new administrative assistant in the office which should help us all be more efficient.

• Elliott’s sister Emma is visiting from the west coast

• Abraham turned 3 this past month and Helena is turning 2 this month!

• NYC was flooded last week. It was the most rain I have ever experienced in my life. Some areas received 8 inches of rain.

• Right before the storm we got to take a short trip out to long island and see a few beaches and a state park.

Prayer Requests

• Pray for us to get better, we all have a throat-cold at the moment.

• Pray for Helena as she is transitioning out of needing naps and into needing to be potty trained.

• Pray for God to guide our ways in all things.

A Step Into The World Of Missions

For our newsletter this month I wanted to share some stories from our missions in the field. THE STORIES THAT FOLLOW SHOULD REMAIN PRIVATE AND NOT SHARED IN ANY WAY thank you for understanding.

BIG PRAISE! Bengali believer reaching and gathering his own people!

From Christian in Queens NYC:

BIG PRAISE!

“You haven’t made a disciple until the person you are discipling has made a disciple”. It’s what we are laboring towards here in Queens, NY. To see disciples made, churches started through diaspora unreached people groups!

For the past year I’ve been meeting with, training & discipling a Bengali believer that has a heart to reach his own people. He recently led his first former muslim to faith this past July. And this past week he baptized him! This week “R” also began gathering his family, this new believer and a few Muslims to read the Bible!

Making disciples among unreached people groups is challenging on so many levels. Please pray with us for

• Sustainable fruit

• For these Muslims to see the beauty of the gospel & their desperate need for a savior.

• For a church to be identified and formed over time.

We moved to Central Asia!

From Jason in South East Asia

After spending some quality time saying goodbye to family and friends, we finished packing our last bag and boarded a plane the afternoon of July 27. We were hours early to the airport because we didn't know how long it would take bringing in so much luggage. Then we had some stressful but funny adventures:

• Our plane was delayed due to storms and overheating, which meant that we couldn't make our connecting flight . . . which meant we watched our plane pull away with all 12 checked bags while we were stuck at the airport. Our kids were counting the cost as they wondered if they'd ever see the stuff they packed to make their new house a home.

• The airline gave us a voucher for an Uber to the next NYC airport to catch a direct flight, but we had to hurry to make it in time! So our family and 3 others in a similar situation all sprinted like a scene from Home Alone through Laguardia airport. Except in our scene, our kids kept dropping their bags and slowing down our new friends (who were kind enough to help the kids carry their stuff). All 8 of us jumped into an SUV with luggage piled on top of us (it took Meg 1-2 minutes to figure out how to shut her door because we were so crammed in). Everyone in the car was stressed as we watched the driver slowly drive on back roads, but Everett kept talking about how he couldn't feel his legs and made us laugh. Thankfully, our direct flight was late so we were all able to make it!

• After a 9 hour direct flight through the night (Will and I stayed up to fight the jet lag), we arrived in Central Asia. We got our smaller bags, our new SIM cards, waited in line to see about our other 12 checked bags, called a taxi, rode for an hour, and arrived at our Airbnb about midnight. Once we got there, it took us and our driver about 10 minutes to find which address was actually ours. But we did! And we slept.

• A few days later, all 12 of our checked bags were delivered to our door! The kids were so happy to see their stuff return. We made it! We believe God is preparing us to expect difficulty in every path worth taking, but an answered prayer at every destination.

Update on Meg's Visa situation:

• Plan A: We have 20-30 days to find a place to live in order to get a permanent residence Visa.

• Plan B: If we can't find an apartment in such a short time, we'll have to leave the country and come back to reapply for another tourist Visa, which will give us 3 more months to find a place to live and get a permanent residence Visa.

We are content with both plans, but we are praying for the first. Thank you to all who helped make this journey possible! Meg and I and the kids are so grateful for each of you who are reading this, praying for us, giving to us, and serving us in so many ways. Our families and friends are such good gifts. God bless you all!

Students from around the world…

Andy in Harlem NYC

International students are everywhere. The photo is the long orientation lines where we would stop and ask each student if they were interested in English groups or activities. After all orientations were done we got somewhere around 600 names. It was a crazy 10 days.

Now I am meeting students for coffee, tea, or lunch. I have already started reading the Bible with a student from France, mobilizing a believer from Indonesia and praying with a bull rider from Canada. On Tuesday I had my first English conversation group with students from Iran, Uzbekistan, Egypt, Togo, Cameroon and UAE. My second English group is Friday and will be filled with others from around the world. Lastly, we will have 4 Pakistani students over for dinner and games next weekend. So many image bearers that we are praying for God to work in their lives!

Please join us in praying for good soil that would produce lasting fruit for the kingdom. We are grateful for each of you and miss you!!

Zoom Gathering

We are going to do a missions town hall meeting September 29th at 6pm Pacific Time. It will be a time for catching up, prayer, and answering your questions. We hope you can make it. We look forward to seeing you soon!

Zoom Link
https://us05web.zoom.us/j/82625248683?pwd=WxIIVtta5CvYJWsbbyC9kjKRvcTImZ.1

Meeting ID: 826 2524 8683
Passcode: 12345

The Support Trip

It has been awhile since our last update, sorry about that! Life has been a rollercoaster the past few months. The support trip was somewhat successful. We were able to see most of our supporters face to face. As well as meet many awesome people along the way.

We Are Back In NYC!

Since getting back to the city we have been busy getting back into the rhythm of life. We sold the car and are back to walking everywhere😬. Helena and Abraham are learning to get along better. Abraham is now potty trained! Kessa has been rebuilding her stair muscles.

What’s going on in the office

Since getting back to NYC, we have been to wrapping up our summer projects so we can start developing a regular routine. Now the fall season is starting, which is busy season here at IP! With the fall semester starting up many of our missionaries are on campus 6+ days a week. While our mobilization team is getting ready to go on their fall trips where they are gone off and on for around a month. Meanwhile I am working with Operations to help keep IP together while we look to hire a couple more people to work in the office. As well as working with the Development and Mobilization teams with their end of year campaigns.

The most exciting development for my role here is that we finally regained access to the Google Ads grant. Which gives us $120,000 a year to use towards Google Ads which help us recruit more missionaries. IP has had the grant for the past ten years but has been unable to use the grant until I got here and was able to set up the ads.

Support Levels

Our support level continues to be below the amount necessary to survive in the city. So we are now meeting with a support coach and continuing to raise funds while doing ministry. This is proving to be a very stressful challenge. But one that I believe will ultimatly be used for God’s glory. Please keep us in your prayers as we continue learning and making new connections.

Hey we love hearing from you.

How are you doing?

How can we be praying for you?