July update

I have a sweater that says ‘Faith over fear’. It’s one of my favorites, despite being a cream color, and attracting dirt so easily, because of how comfortable it is. But even more than its comfort level i love the conversations that have come up because of it. I had a conversation with a couple while at market this week, and the husband mentioned he loved the message and walked away encouraged stating: “so often we let fear of unknown effect our faith; really we just need to take the step (of faith).”

I’ve taken to wearing clothes more intentionally, because I want to be intentional about what message I am sharing. That even if I’m not saying anything, I am still sharing a message. I have another shirt that simply says “Jesus loves you”. As I was walking around the park, a man coaching baseball goes “I sometimes forget; your shirt is a good reminder” we got talking and the conversation ended with an invite for him to come to church with us. He had been seeking a church community but just needed someone to invite him as motivation to actually attend.

Jesus said to go into all the world and preach the gospel, and that calling isn’t difficult or overcomplicated. I once heard “Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.”-St. Francis our lives should be a reflection of our relationship with Jesus, if we are aligning ourselves with Him, I find, opportunities naturally occur.

Kelly’s Kitchen

This month we began baking bread to bring to the market. We are hoping that by pricing bread below what the stores market we can bless the community with affordable options, as well we are building relationships with local vendors. We have had great opportunity to talk to people and pray with people. It’s a lot of hard work but in the last month we have already been so well received and feel so encouraged to keep going.

Building

We have begun construction on the floor of the A-frame. It is a slow process, but we have been blessed with friends who have shown up at just the right time to help us accomplish work. One thing we keep bringing to God is “Lord, we are willing, but we can’t do this on our own”. And just like always, when we are faithful to move forward, He has such perfect timing in providing the help at just the right moments.

As we are working in the A frame, we have also been doing research so we can establish a sports field on the property. We are hoping we can begin steps to build a baseball/soccer field in the next few months. The biggest issue we have in moving forward is working through getting irrigation for the field, because it requires a consistent water source.

Outreach

We are continuing to get involved in the community. Friday night youth outreach has seen a dip in attendance as many kids are out of school and baseball is no longer in season. But the kids that do come are still so excited to hang out with a consistent group of adults. That are excited to learn, and are engaged. Gabe taught a lesson a couple weeks ago and it was well received by both adults and the kids.

As we have been praying we are still looking for ways to engage the young girls in the community. One lady, a teacher with a heart to see children and the local deaf community encounter Jesus, has begun an ASL club, in the park in the hour prior to the Bible lesson and our girls have been super excited. We had our first club meeting this month, there were only a couple of us but as we have been talking to others and several girls are excited about joining in the future.

I’m not sure if it will continue past the summer, I hope it will, but either way we will keep on praying for the children here and seek out ways to reach them.

Travel

Over Father’s Day weekend we had the chance to travel to Oahu. An organization Gabe had partnered with reached out to see if he could fix their roof which had been leaking and causing bigger issues due to an influx in storms. All other places they reached out to were booked out months. So last minute we decided to all fly out and make a weekend of it. They were able to provide us with housing for the weekend and Gabe was able to fix their roof in a day. During that weekend we got to use the time to connect with church friends and family in the area. We felt so refreshed by the encouragement from our community on Oahu.

Prayer Requests

We are still working towards getting established as a non-profit. It’s a lot of steps and thankfully we have friends and family who have taken them and are able to help us with the legal aspects of getting established. This is important so we can begin to receive donations and offer tax deduction’s. Please be praying that we can move forward quickly, and that we don’t run into any issues getting approved.

Pray for financing, as we are moving forward into full time ministry we are seeking financial partners to come along side us and what God is building out here.

We had been presented with an opportunity to take part in an intensive through Transforming Hearts Ministries that would help to better equip us for this season. We are still taking steps towards that, However we are not sure how we will pay for this intensive. It’s $7200 due by the end of July. So please join us in prayer that if we are supposed to take part in this that financing will be taken care of.

Pray for wisdom and peace.