Blessed....to be a Blessing

  Wouldn’t you agree that one of the best experiences in life is being able to hand off a blessing?  Share a meal with somebody.  Hand off a new  favorite book before you are even done reading it. Giving away a new worship CD. Give away some time or share your talent so that somebody else is blessed and not charge them a penny.  This is one of the benefits of being a full-time missionary family – we get these experiences all the time.  It is also special because we get to partner with you and give you these opportunities too.  This joy that we feel in giving ourselves, giving our time, giving our money and possessions to bless others is something the disciples that we are raising-up in South Central Los Angeles are beginning to experience more and more too.  What a blessing! 

Thanksgiving Outreach

This Thanksgiving we were able to hand out over 30 food boxes brimming with needed staples and some extra goodies.  Although the families in our church have their own needs we decided it would be more powerful to have them hand the boxes off to neighbors, co-workers and other people that they have been praying for and wanting to share Jesus with.   This was a good exercise in faith for many, but did open some doors.  The great thing is we received some extra food donations soon afterwards and were able to hand out more boxes this time to bless the families that had so faithfully and sacrificially given previously.  

Our son, Beniah, helping us pack food boxes.  

We also had a special Sunday outreach where the youth lead us in worship and then a group from our church performed a powerful drama.  This drama retold Fabiola’s testimony – of the hardships in her earlier years and how her family came to know Jesus.  Nobody, even the actors, knew that this was a true story until the end when she shared with all the guests – around 100 people – the good news of salvation that came to her house through the faithful witness of a friend who cared.  It set up our conversations and celebration wonderfully as we then transitioned into a feast of many great foods.  

 

After the drama we had everyone write a note stating what they were thankful for….they then placed it in a box wrapped as a gift as an act of gratitude to God.  Here are some excerpts from these cards:  

• Having a mom.
• That God has not forgotten me.  He hears me when I cry.  For my family and everything He gives me day by day.  Thank you Father!
• My family and wonderful husband and for my pastors who You put in my path. 
• This church, this space, these people.  The pastor and his family.  My life and health.  My family, job, parents.  For the ministry and His mercies.
• The life of my husband and that he has come to know Jesus. 
• My McQueen and Planes toys.  My food and the earth and my toys. 
• My family and because God has changed me.  I’m not the same person I was when Christ rescued me.  

  

Christmas Banquet and Toy Store

As you can see from all the pictures above we had a great time at our Christmas banquet.  The photo booth is always so much fun.  We had 6 new families join us this year.  One we met at our church’s yard sale the day before.  Another was handed a flier and invitation the weekend prior by somebody from the church.  The other four families were friends or family brought by people from our church.  It was so fun to be able to pour the blessings on people and rejoice in Christ coming to be with us.

There were numerous different crafts and games for the children.  We wanted to create a place for the children to sit down with their parents and create a Christmas memory – and we succeeded in this.  

Our church is taking more and more ownership and responsibility for each outreach and event that we do.  Our church understands the vision of what we do and why we do it more and more each time.  We could not have done the Christmas or the Thanksgiving outreach without a ton of help from special donations and volunteers though – so thank you to everyone that donated toys, time, food or an offering to make these moments possible.  

 

We served hot chocolate and one of the families from our church catered the event with a great traditional meal.  Families were able to sit at tables and share life and the Christmas message with people they invited or that came for the first time.                   

Our goal was to get 200 toys donated to be sure that every one of the children from our church, tutoring program and all the people we were inviting had at least one toy.  We were blown away to see toys pour in at the last minute totaling double that – yes, 400 toys!  We were able to sell these gifts at 75% off – it was great to see so many huge smiles and hear the testimonies of what a blessing this event is for the parents.  
[The concept of our toy store is to bless parents with deep discounts so that they feel empowered in choosing and purchasing their own gifts and not just hand them a toy.  The money we do raise is then re-invested into the programs and ministries that benefit them.  In some cases we did give gifts away because even $5 for a $20 gift isn’t attainable for everyone during this time of the year.] 

 
 
 

Once gifts were selected and bought we had another room (all of this was in our new space upstairs!) where the gifts were gift wrapped and then concealed in a black bag.  

 
 

Upstairs – Before and After (painting)

Here is a before and after of one of the rooms that we painted upstairs.  It looks so much bigger and brighter with a new fresh coat of paint. 

A lot of time, love and work have gone into getting things ready – this space is designated as the game room.

 
 

Youth Christmas Outing

Our youth group took a special outing to see a Christmas presentation at a nearby church with a “Frozen” theme.

The youth group has also put on two fund-raisers this month in preparation for their winter camp in January.  

If you are interested in providing a full ($95) or partial scholarship for the youth winter camp please let us know.  We anticipate this to be one of those life-changing events for the group and want to be able to bring as many of them along as possible.

Would you also lift up our leaders Joshua and Rocio in prayer – they are working so hard to bless and train-up these youth.  They need our extra prayers for strength, vision, wisdom and endurance as they invest into this generation. 

Family News – Blessed, Rest, Crash

What abundant blessings we have in our life!  We count you as a huge blessing – thank you for your prayers and love and support.  We love being a family that ministers together.  It isn’t always easy.  This month we have definitely felt tired.  We are taking the last week of the year off to recharge and celebrate as a family.  

Pray that this time would be special family time and effective in getting us the needed rest so that we can launch back onto the mission field for 2015.

We are also thankful that nobody was hurt when we were smashed from behind on the freeway last month.  All three children were freaking out and yet thankfully nobody was seriously hurt.  The van was pretty smashed.  We were not at fault and so we were able to have some of it fixed (as much as possible, so at least now we can use the back door again), but it will never be quite the same.  Please continue to keep us covered in prayer for safety and for God’s provision.

Here is Beniah (9 months) as a tough pirate and as a cute shepherd boy.  

 

Please Pray with Us…

Pray for our upcoming events that will strengthen our church family as well as give us opportunity to reach more people for Jesus Christ:

 · Wolyn’s rest, recuperate and celebrate for Christmas – December 22-26

· Movie night – December 28

· Street evangelism – January 2

· Building projects day (refinishing hardwood floors in youth room) – January 2

· New Year’s outreach (carnival & hot dog feed at park) – January 3

· Week of prayer and fasting – January 4-11

· New small group Bible study begins – January 15

· Finance Conference – January 17

· Winter Youth Camp – January 17-19

Thank you for being a blessing to us.  This year we have been blessed beyond our ability to comprehend.  We thank you for celebrating the victories with us and for praying us through the hard times.  Jesus is King and worthy of all that we have.  It is with that attitude and heart that we serve along side of you in this ministry. 

Merry Christmas – may your celebration be Christ-centered, memorable and filled with love.

From our home to yours,

Chad, Fabiola, Rebecca, Justice and Beniah

More Than A Better Life

Raphael approached me after one of our mid-week Bible studies and shared how various people he was connected to were trying to pull him back into his old sinful lifestyle. “But I just don’t listen to them,” he said. “This is my church. I want to follow God.”

He continued, “I want my family to know God. My children come home and worship Jesus now. My youngest will turn the trash bin over and sit on it like the [cajon] drum we have at church. We have also removed all alcohol from our house and life. I haven’t had a headache or felt sick in a long time. My friends still invite me to come over and have a few beers (which always turns into a lot more), but I see things so differently now. Before I thought it was cool and fun, but now I understand how foolish it is. I would rather worship God – and I don’t spend the night throwing up and wake up with those horrible headaches. My friends seem so blind, yet I was there with them just a year ago.”

Raphael then concluded, “Thank you for being patient with me and my family and helping us out. I appreciate all that you do and how hard you work. I want to keep learning more and help my family and others have a better life and be involved always in the church.”

The next week Raphael opened his home up inviting his neighbors and the whole church to have a ‘party’….really it was a celebration service. He put together a time of prayer and fellowship – it wasn’t a birthday party and there was no real reason apart from having us come together in a time of thanksgiving and praise to God. A place where people could come over and see what Raphael has seen and find what he has found in Jesus Christ – life and a reason to celebrate. We had a powerful time praying for and encouraging one lady whose husband is still very stuck in a life of drugs and alcohol. 

One way you can celebrate with us this Christmas season is thank God for the favor, blessing, guidance and fruit he has given us this year. Please continue to lift Raphael and his family before the Lord. We can see how God desires to use their family to bring many more people to know Him.  One of Raphael’s children recently shared in Sunday school that his dream was to be a pastor when he grows up. Let’s pray guidance and protection over the whole family!

This Christmas season we also wanted to give you an opportunity to help this ministry end the year strong by giving a gift (financial or actual item). We have dipped about 10% below our needed support level in the last quarter so support for our family would be appreciated. There are also some great ways to get involved with specific items that will help us as we evangelize the lost, train-up emerging indigenous leaders and plant churches that reproduce. 

Here is a list of a few ideas of how you can help: 

• Scholarship for youth winter camp ($95/person). The camp takes place in January 2015.
• Scholarship for leadership interns ($15/month or $180/year)
• Craft Supplies for our children’s ministry (construction paper, beads, foam shapes, pipe cleaners, etc.)
• DVDs (appropriate for children or toddlers in English or Christian movies with Spanish dub.)
• Music (Christian music English or Spanish)
• Wireless microphone system

May God be your reason for celebration this month! Merry Christmas and God’s greatest gift of love to you,

Chad, Fabiola, Rebecca, Justice and Beniah 

The Upper Room

Super exciting news!  After 3 years of praying we have finally been granted the ability to rent the upstairs of our church building (old home).  This gives us 5 new classrooms and a game area for children and youth programs.  This will also allow us to expand our meeting area for our Sunday services downstairs along with opening up some space for some other ministry plans we have down the road.  

We now have space to more than double our tutoring and English (ESL) ministries.  We also envision doing more with music and can even host larger groups that would like to come server alongside us for short-term mission trips. 

Remember the upper room in the book of Acts?  The disciples obediently spent many days up there praying and awaiting the gift Father God promised.  We have already been blessed with the Holy Spirit, but this new expansion is bringing us more and more to our knees in prayer on ways we can bring the presence of God to others.   Our focus is Jesus.  We so urgently want Him to be made known to the nations.  We want people all over the world to experience His goodness and mercy and welcome Him into their lives personally.  That is why we continue to invest in so many people here in Los Angeles.  So that He may be known and His Word shared far and wide. 

We want one of the rooms upstairs to be used as a prayer room – a place where people corporately or individually can come and meet with God. 

We have had some good maturing in our community group as we have been training them to lead the study and watching them grow in godly character.  This week we were encouraging some of the couples that soon they will be released to lead a group on their own.  We will be sending them out two by two to go teach what they have been learning in this study and in their relationship with God to their friends and neighbors.  There is a lot of excitement in what is to come early next year when this all happens.  

 

The front door opens to this small space.  We’re thinking it would make a nice place for parents to check-in their children before they go upstairs to the classrooms.

 There are five rooms and two bathrooms.  The middle picture shows the space in the middle that leads to all the rooms.  One of our youth that helps with our Fuente Kids ministry is getting excited saying that it would be a great space to have a Kid’s Church service like the adults have downstairs before having the age groups break up into their classes.  

 There is a kitchen space as well. 

Here (above and below) is a peak at 4 of the rooms and the views from upstairs.  The park and most of the neighborhood can be easily seen.  It just stirs up prayer and compassion being able to see out further into the neighborhood from upstairs.  From the other side is a great view of downtown Los Angeles. 

Here Are Some Ways You Can Help

Our church has been working hard to get ready to take on the increase in rent, but we sure could use some help with some of the start-up costs of getting these spaces ready for ministry.  Could you sponsor a room (or part of a room)?  You can either order the item and have them sent to us, or send the money to World Impact (2001 S. Vermont Ave. / Los Angeles, CA 9007) clearly marked for “FUENTE LA”.  We’ve created a wish list on Amazon.com with quantities and comments to help you shop for us.  Click here “Adopt a Room”:

SPONSOR A ROOM (or part of a room): 

Each room needs:

2-3 tables (6’ rectangular/folding)                 $ 76-115 per room                 

10-20 chairs (folding)                                   $ 90-180 per room

Dry erase whiteboard (4’ x 6’)                     $ 150 per room

Garbage can (white; 6 gallon size)                 $ 8 per room

2 plastic bins for storage (~66 Qt size)          $ 20 per room

Bookcase and/or storage closet                    $ 120 each

Blinds (10/18 are broken or damaged)         $ 25-35 each

TOY STORE:

Like last year, we will be putting on a Christmas outreach event that includes a Toy Store.  We deeply discount toys and give parents an opportunity to shop for their children (on average parents or grandparents pay only 20-25% of the original price making giving some gifts possible).  This gives parents the opportunity to choose and pay for the present they will give their child, which is more empowering than just handing them a toy for “boy, age 8”.  Our church organizes the event and puts on a banquet with other fun activities that bring Christ as the focus of Christmas.  With the toys being donated we are also able to raise a little money to help our church in future outreach events too. 

We need 200+ gifts to be able to include all the people we’ve been focused on reaching out to this year.  Would you consider donating toys to our special toy store this year? If it is easier than picking the item out yourself you may give a financial gift (designated “Fuente LA”) and we’ll do the shopping for you (or you may send gift cards – for example, $10 McDonald’s cards were popular for the youth last year). 

Worship & Music Training

We have had another wave of interest in learning instruments and desire to participate in worship.  We had a Saturday workshop this month to help some of the new students get oriented to the basics and give some of our more experienced musicians an experience to grow even more.  Continue to pray that we could foster hearts that worship Jesus in spirit and truth and a musical gifting that would bless all who hear us.  

Youth Group Our youth group had a guest speaker come share her testimony with them this month.  One key point they took away from this time was being bold in sharing their faith with others.  We have since seen an increase in invites and visitors to the group.  Also, it has been a lot of fun watching the youth worship team develop and mature.  They sing many of the same songs the whole church sings on Sunday, but they sing them in English on Fridays.

Our Church Anniversary - Celebrating 4 Years

This month we celebrated the transformation that God has done in individuals and families through the church we are planting, Fuente para las Naciones.  It was great to take time out to look back and see what God has taken us through for His glory.  We also looked ahead at some of the great things God has in store for us.  We had first time guests as well as old friends join us.  There was special music, a time of testimonies and the children shared Bible verses that they had memorized.  At the end of service we all went upstairs to pray and dedicate the new space to the Lord.  

Family News

Here are a few fun fall pictures from this month.

Please Pray with Us…

Pray for our upcoming events that will strengthen our church family as well as give us opportunity to reach more people for Jesus Christ:

o   Thanksgiving Outreach (A special service with drama and full meal) – November 23

o   Christmas Banquet & Toy Store Outreach – December 14

o   New Years Outreach (park outreach) – January 3

We are praying that you may continue to have those upper room experiences – the emotion of waiting on the great surprises and blessings the Lord has for you as well as the realization of these hopes and desires. 

We are thankful for you.  We hope you have a great Thanksgiving celebration. 

God’s rich blessing on you,

Chad, Fabiola, Rebecca, Justice and Beniah