Stray Dogs

Like many third world countries, stray dogs abound in our neighborhood. It’s not unheard of for a gang of twelve dogs to be tromping around the streets and meandering through the park. Sometimes they are aggressive, but generally they aren’t.  Many of them walk around pregnant and scrawny–scrounging for whatever food they can find.  

Sadly, there are even more stray people here wandering around without purpose. People that have been abandoned and are spiritually sick. They are roaming in and out, just looking to get what they can – to make it through another day.  This is a comparison we don’t particularly like to make, but it is very accurate.  It’s oppressive here.  There is a lot to do.

Pictured above are some stray dogs in our community.  

Top a group at South Park, below a dog makes a home amongst the trash on a street near our home.

Updates

Growth and Expansion

We are by no means done with the work God has given us in this community, but we are committing this next year to pray for further expansion into other neighborhoods – whether that be a growth of our current church plant or a completely new church plant. 

While We Were Away

It was so good to be back to church on Sunday.  We missed two Sundays – something we have never done since we started meeting every Sunday morning about a year ago.  The first week we were gone we were on a much needed vacation.  We came back refreshed and with new drive, passion and vision.  The following week we were on a World Impact missionary staff retreat.  This was also good for us to continue to get training and pour ourselves into the bigger picture of what God is doing amongst the urban poor throughout Los Angeles and the nation. 

While we were gone things continued without a hitch.  In fact, there were several visitors and some powerful testimonies that we got to hear.  We would like to share one testimony that was particularly amazing on several levels.

Camilla’s Testimony

Camilla is a young grandmother who after walking past our church time and time again finally decided to join us.  She has been coming out for a few months now and while we were away came to church with a heavy heart.  She ended up sitting next to Jasmin, a lady who just gave her life to Jesus, and they began talking.  Camilla shared her heartache that while at the doctor’s office with her pregnant daughter they received the horrible news that her baby had spina bifida and was given a 10% chance to live.  Jasmin encouraged Camilla to seek God in prayer.  Camilla shared with the whole church this week that she went home still weighed down in her heart, but hopeful and encouraged by the talk and words of Jasmin.  She opened her Bible and read and read and cried out to God in prayer.  They returned to the doctor this week and the doctor announced that the baby no longer has spina bifida and that the baby now has a 90% chance to live.  The whole church lit up with rejoicing!  (We need to leave more often!)

Please Pray with Us…..

üDogs eating at the table

    Fabiola had a dream this month where there were ravenous, vicious dogs coming to eat at a large banqueting table prepared for a feast.  She felt that the table represented all the amazing things that God is doing in and through our church.  The dogs are the presence of evil.  Later, Norma, one of the ladies who works with us, saw a vicious dog-like animal jump up on her during a team prayer time.  We would ask that you pray for our spiritual protection against the attacks of the enemy.  We are confident God wants to do great and amazing things – and rejoice in what He has already accomplished, but also know that there is evil lurking all around. 

ü  Music Training Workshop  Saturday, October 20

   We want more and more people to be excited about worshipping God and equipped to play instruments in our praise and worship time.  This will be our third time doing a half-day workshop like this.  Pray that students and teachers alike would be inspired, equipped and push deeper into God.

üGuest musician Lasana Kanneh  Sunday, October 21

     While our church worships primarily in Spanish we all have a lot of connections in the workplace, neighborhood and schools that are English-only speakers.  Our church is inviting some of these people to worship with us this coming weekend as we have African, reggae, gospel musician Lasana come from the Portland/Vancouver area to minister to our church.  We will then take him down to MacArthur Park – a large park near downtown LA to minister there at an outreach.

ü Birthday Party  Saturday, October 27

Justice just turned 5 (October 4) and Rebecca will be turning 7 (November 5), so we are inviting all the church and some other friends from school and the community to join in celebrating both of these birthdays.  This will be Justice’s first birthday party ever!

ü  Our “Building”

After almost two years of meeting on our driveway our canopy has given way to the sun, wind and rain. We started Fuente para las Naciones church almost three years ago now.  We started meeting in our living room as a Bible study.  After a year of meeting as a small group in various homes we added a once-a-month Sunday meeting and grew other areas such as our children and youth ministries.  Now we are almost at the end of a year of meeting continuously every Wednesday and Sunday.  We know the church is the people – not the building, but while we pray for more people to meet and grow in Jesus we need an adequate space to come together. 

Our current meeting place (walls come down on Sundays)
has a bit of a sun roof that we've been covering with
extra tarps after a recent storm.  

Please pray for a new building space and for funding to make needed repairs on what we are currently using.  If God prompts you to give financially towards this need please contact us through one of the ways listed at the end of this letter. 

God has given us the city!  It’s happening life by life.  First Jasmin came in strong giving everything to Jesus and now Camilla has seen God’s amazing power and demonstration of love.  There are many strays – spiritually bankrupt people – wandering and hurt, but thanks to your prayers and financial support we get to see the poor say “I am rich” and the weak say, “I am strong.”  Thank you for standing strong along side of us – together we can do a lot.

Full of Christ’s life-giving love,

Chad & Fabiola

Restored by God's Love

You may remember six months ago, in April, when we asked for prayer for Fabiola’s birthday outreach we were planning.  Well, as a result of that event there is a weekly women’s meeting that one of Fabiola’s disciples is leading and hosting in her home. 

Restoration is taking place!  Broken lives are being made whole. God is revealing Himself face-to-face to the women in this group.  Week by week the women are getting closer to one another and to God.  Each week God’s love is more obvious and His voice much clearer to these ladies.  The women are going through a book study addressing their identity in Christ.  Like a rain that just dampens at first, but then in a span of time drenches, God has been persistent in His demonstration of love to these women helping them get to a place where they can comprehend and receive His love.

There are a variety of people in the group, both Christians and non-Christians.  Yet Christ is being made known.  Susana (name changed), one of the non-Christians, had never believed that there really was anything evil and thought that the devil was just a fairy tale character meant to scare us into being good.  Yet suddenly as the group was talking a light came on and Susana saw for the first time that Satan is very real and that he wants to destroy her.  The exciting part is that in that moment she came to grips with the very real, personal and loving God that wants to rescue, save and be close to her.  God has been gently calling her to Himself through this group of women.   

As the group presses in to the biblical truths of how God sees us there has been a growing enthusiasm and desire to learn more about God and the many truth’s found in the Bible.  One of the ladies shared, “I have always known that there were other women out there that were prettier than me, but now I have experienced the power in knowing that God thinks that I am beautiful.  I am not less.  I do not feel inferior to those other women.”     

“I feel God calling me. Not by force, as I have always feared, but by His love and out of His desire to take care of and watch over me.”  The power of the Truth is not just restoring these women, but they are testifying and sharing these things with others.  Please lift this women’s group and the rest of the women in our church and community up in prayer this month.  Pray with us that God’s truth would ignite their hearts ablaze and cause a wildfire to positively destroy everything – the lies, hurts and burdens – that so many are carrying and have grown accustomed to live with.  We believe that the ‘forgotten’ and ‘unloved’ will find freedom in the Truth and rise-up and live out the great calling that God is drawing them into. 

Our faith is growing and so is the church that we are planting!  Thank you for partnering with us as we continue to minister here in the city.  God is taking the hand of these young women and giving them a place to walk out and share His holy love and presence.

In Christ’s amazing and abounding love,

Chad & Fabiola