Hello Family and Friends!

It’s been a LONG time since we’ve last blogged and a lot has happened that we want to catch you up on! But for fear of you falling asleep, there is one particular thing that happened in *Turkey* we wanted to share with you; the rest of what he’s been doing in that country wouldn’t fit into one blog post! In that though, we look forward to coming home and having many coffee dates with each of you to share all the details of what God has done and is doing!

As most of you know *Turkey* is a closed country, which means you can have a different religion/belief system than Islam, but you cannot share, evangelize or attempt to convert anyone in the country to your religion. If you’re caught doing any of the above you could be beaten, jailed and/or be kicked out of the country permanently. In saying that though, the Turkish people are patient, amazing and very hospitable. (Especially the workers we were able to meet and work with!) Every year, about 60,000+ Turkish people make a journey to one of the islands (Princess) off the coast of *Istanbul* for many different reasons; the two biggest being an emptiness or void they’re seeking to fill with something, and the want/need of obtaining favor or more luck in life through superstitions. So for the workers, this is the perfect opportunity to share the Love of Jesus with his people that are seeking something that only he can give.

Our team, along with workers from various cities within *Turkey*, and believers from other countries, headed out to Princess Island with many of the Turkish seekers. It’s hard to describe the feeling when you step foot off of the ferry. There were vendors everywhere selling anything from string and charms for good luck, to flowers, candles, and sugar cube vendors giving stuff away so they might be blessed more. Everyone was seeking to appease or gain the approval of something or someone but had no idea who that someone was. We Did! Our entire crew and fellow believers within *Turkey* and the surrounding countries were there with several areas set up along a long path up to the top of the island. We handed out tracts, “good luck” scripture cards, Bibles, and had a worship team on hand and an area for anyone who was seeking prayer for any and everything! I could spend hours telling you all the amazing ways God moved that day, but I think the thing that encouraged me the most was seeing 10,000 Bibles not just handed out, but taken off the tables before we even had a chance to refill it! When we finished up for the day, it was encouraging to see not one Bible left on the ground or thrown in the trash and to make it even better, while riding the ferry back to the mainland, people were reading the Bibles openly! God moved in amazing ways that day! I know left out so many details, but I want to get you caught up on what’s been going on in Italy without you falling asleep at the computer so… PLEASE let’s go have coffee together when we get back home!

On our final approach into Roma, I remember just sitting in awe of God and how good and faithful He is to wretched sinners like me. The city is so beautiful, and the weather… well I won’t talk about the weather because I think it’s still raining quite a bit back home in Washington State. The night we got in a few of us walked down to the Coliseum to check it out and it was truly stunning. I remember sitting there and thinking, “Wow God, man built this, but it was you who allowed it to be built and first put this passion and knowledge into someone to build something this large.” Then I felt God answer me and say, “In a city with so much rich history and structures that reach to the sky Josh, remember to remain in awe of me and not of man.” It was so true. Roma is as beautiful as I imagined and so are the Roman people, but it can be really easy to focus on the enormity of it all and the fashion, the glitz and the glamorous side of the city. It reminds me of Colossians 3:1-2 and it’s something I try to focus on daily.

Ministry times have been stretching but so good. We’re doing Prayer Walks and Prayer Mapping areas and points of interest all around Central Roma, and have been privileged to work with a local church and a refugees ministry. In the refugee ministry we’ve met so many amazing people; from Somali and Afghan refugees to 5 fellow workers from a Quebec base teaching English and basic math and reading to the refugees. We’ve also spent nights at some of the busiest piazzas here in Roma doing various types of ministry work from playing hacky-sack with locals, to talking to vendors selling trinkets from Bangladesh. It’s cool the way God works when you’re open to everything and you don’t limit him and what he can do! Growth Happens. The growth as individuals and as a couple has been amazing. It’s been such a privilege to stand along side Kassi and watch her grow in Christ and being able to watch as He starts revealing new bits and pieces of His future plans and ministry(ies) He is calling her to. To top it off, the growth God has brought to our marriage in such a short time cannot be expressed by simple words. God is Good…

I know i’ve compacted A LOT in just a small space, but hopefully we’ll be able to update regularly! We will try to blog again before this Tuesday as we leave Roma for Bari to live with an Italian Family for 2 weeks. Hopefully when we get there we’ll be able to access wi-fi to keep you all updated!

Love You All and God Bless,

Josh and Kassi

Hello Everyone! It’s hard to believe that 14 days from now we will be leaving this fine city of San Francisco and heading to Europe! God has been busily working in each individual and we’ve seen Him moving in ways that can only be described as indescribable!

When Kassi and I started this new adventure in life we expected to see God show up but it’s been on a much larger scale than we could even imagine. I Love it when He does that! (And He does it quite often) God has brought so much healing and restoration these past few months and we’ve all grown so close together. Kassi and I have also grown closer together but not in the way we originally thought we would! When you are focused on pouring into God, he pours back into you, and then you are able to pour out to the ones you love. Not Vice Versa. We can’t pour into others and then pour into God. There is no true fulfillment or love in that. Love God, Love Yourself, and then you can Love Others! If I’m not pouring into and truly loving God and pursuing a relationship with Him, I can’t truly love others around me. If we love God we love ourselves. We are the mirrored image(s) of our Father in Heaven. On a good day it’s easy for me love God, love myself, and my neighbor, but it’s on those bad days when I have to choose to love, that is true love. It seems pretty easy when you see it on paper but to walk it our everyday, builds character, discipline, perseverance, and strengthens the relationships around us! It’s through that outpouring to God that Kassi and I are able to pour true love back into each other. I Love That! I spent way too much time doing things backwards!

Anyways… back to the countdown. We praise God and Thank You all for the support you have given us through your prayers and through giving financially and we are almost there! We wanted to give you all a quick update and let you know that God to this point, has raised $14,000 dollars which means our schooling is paid for but not our outreach costs! The only thing left that we need to raise money for are our plane tickets for outreach. We are $800 dollars away from being paid-in-full and it is an amazing feeling! God is so good and faithful! We just wanted to update you because we know we’re getting close to leaving and people have been asking us to update them on how much we still need.  Also, there are other students still short on money, so please pray and if God leads you to give, everything will go to paying school fees and airline flights for those short. Thank You again for sacrificing and supporting us in this new adventure. We look forward to sharing about the lives God has touched throughout the world through the support of our friends, our family, and our God!

Love You All!

Soo.. this blog entry will be a little “short” but I promise I will write more frequently and my entries will get longer! These past few weeks have been a whirlwind of praying, teaching, and growth for everyone. For me personally, it was extremely rewarding because God began to show me His truth in the lies that the enemy has spoken into me; the biggest being whether I am a Good Husband. I don’t have any life shattering scripture to share with you, but I would like to share with you a journal entry and two letters. Something very close to my heart that God has spoken into me. It brings me Encouragement and Joy in times of self-doubt or in times when I feel like I must carry the burdens of others or my own. It is in broken sentences so I apologize ahead of time, but that’s how God was speaking to me! Some in thoughts and some in sentences :) I hope this penetrates your heart as it did mine, but if not I hope it at least affirms you in one thing. God is Love. He is madly in Love with you and is pursuing you, and a deeper relationship with His Beloved sons and daughters. It starts with recognizing these truths. After the following letters, i’d like to leave you with something so simple, yet it impacted me in so many ways. We serve a BIG and Loving God!

God’s Truths I Believe and Know (Gods letters to me)

Dearest Josh,

I am so proud of you for taking this leap of Faith. You worry too much about your past. You are forgiven. I paid the price. You have much growing to do but I am excited for you. I have built you for a specific purpose. Continue seeking whole-heartedly for me like a shepherd seeks one lost sheep. Be ok in the silence; I am still with you. Discipline you must practice everyday. Give yourself to me wholly everyday. I will be your strength, your support. Ask me questions. I will answer. Have faith and be obedient to what I ask. You are growing. It takes time. Be patient. Pray often. Listen for me. I will speak. You have been made whole through me. You are more powerful than you think. You will do great things in my name. Don’t lose focus. Throw down pride on a daily basis. Be humble. Love my people without boundaries. Be that LEADER I designed you to be giving God the glory forever.

Josh,

I chose your bride for you. You are the perfect bridegroom. Your past letdowns are not who you are. I have designed you for something special. Something you don’t understand right now. You can NEVER let me down. I will Love you no matter what. I am here; keep smiling. Don’t look at the lies of your past. REMEMBER the Cross; my blood. You are successful in me and what I’ve called you to.

Talk about Confirmation and Affirmation from God! I have a blameless Father in Heaven who Loves me/us right where we are at! The next letter is the last I will share with you today but it was a letter from my journal I wrote to God after a hard and trying week. I hope it blesses you as it has me!

God,

Thank You for the words you spoke though Dawn (one of our DTS Teachers) during worship this morning. God you ARE speaking through me! When you feel i’m ready LORD, please give me words, your words God for others. Help me to remain humble and give all the glory to you in Heaven. Without you I am weak. My flesh is weak, but through you I am strong. You are so gracious and your LOVE infathomable. I’ll never be able to fully understand it. I’m ok with that! I know that I am your beloved son. That you work through the mistakes we make. They glorify you in the end. Thank You for taking the lies the enemy has told me; for taking the burden from me. It hangs on the cross. Your blood covered it all. It’s not fair to you if I hold on to what you’ve already paid the price for. I won’t forget Matthew 11:28-30. Thank You for continuing to grow me. It hurts sometimes, but in that I know you are rebuilding and restructuring me from the inside out. Keep tilling the soil!

I apologize for the length of this entry but it’s been awhile since I shared what God has been doing! All in all, God is moving and doing Great Things in this school, in the students, and in Kassi and I. The refinement process is never easy, it doesn’t feel good all the time, but it is necessary. God NEVER wastes our pain. He will use it to glorify Him and His Kingdom! I am already seeing this as we grow closer and closer to him. In closing I would like to leave you with something that is near to my heart.

“God is the original initiator of LOVE. Before you ever began seeking Him, He was pursuing you.”

His Love is Pure and Perfect in Every Way. I Love all of you and promise… You will never see a blog this long ever again!! :)

Happy Saturday Everyone! I know we haven’t been able to update for awhile but we have been extremely busy since touchdown here in San Francisco! The weather has been a consistent Sunny and 65, the staffs amazing, the students are on fire, and the teaching and lecturing has been mind blowing. Today is going to be low key for the most part. We have a City Tour Scavenger Hunt with a lunch stop at In-and-Out Burger! We’ll post some pics and hopefully some videos soon but before I leave I would like to leave you with something (which I will try to do every time I blog) that has spoken to me. I know for me in all this busyness, I put time off with God like so many of us but I want to encourage you all to make that time for him. Our God pursues but also wants us to pursue him and a deeper relationship with him. This means praying, reading the word, asking God to speak to and through you, loving others like Christ loves us, and the list goes on… I wont take up too much more of your time, but here are two quotes that I would like to leave you with that hit home for me.

“The man who would know God, must give time to him.”  -AW Tozer

“Reading without meditation is arid. Meditation without reading is erroneous. Prayer without meditation is tepid. Meditation without prayer is fruitless.”  -Guigo

Let me start off by saying WOW… And a BIG Thank You to our family and friends who came out to support Kassi and I and the journey God has called us on. God raised $700 Sunday night and we’re moving closer to the end goal of covering our outreach costs! Again, it truly was a blessing to see everyone and we are grateful for your selfless giving and prayers. We know some of you couldn’t make it but we appreciate your thoughts and words of encouragement! I know, as a man it is very humbling to have to rely on others for support/survival, but I also believe that it’s also God’s way of blessing us and you at the same time so Thank You. I would like to leave you with a few verses that have been on my heart the past few weeks.

God Bless,

Josh and Kassi

3 Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of  death, even death on a cross.

Philippians 2:3-8