As some of you know, I went to East West College, a massage school, and graduated at the end of 2006. Afterwards, I earned my National Certification in California and practiced massage in Chiropractic offices for 3 and a half years and then in a day spa in Redding, California for over a year.

Our time in Redding (at Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry) was financially very tight. Every day we learned to look at each struggle as an opportunity for God to work a miracle and do something amazing. He did just that. Although we were poor, we managed to live in a beautiful townhouse with amazing roommates, watch school be paid for, travel, have food always on the table and witness God doing something very foundational in our hearts.

 At the end of our time in Redding, my National Massage License was close to expiring. I was able to pay for some continuing education, but I was not able to pay for all of it, or my license renewal fee. Therefore, my license expired.

As we have been back in Oregon for over 2 years now (wow, time has flown!) I have been back and forth with the idea of getting my Oregon Massage License. But am at the place now, where it's looking more like it will be worth studying, and saving up for taking the tests and working towards getting Oregon licensed.

I am going to be honest with you guys... Jason and I have not been the best financial stewards over the course of our marriage. We have so desired to be in control of our money, but have never seemed to get in the groove with keeping a budget or saving money. This is something we have felt a lot of shame and disappointment in. 

While this new year was approaching, we felt more than ever a drive to change this. We don’t want to be dishonest by giving you the half-truth and saying “things are tight right now”, when truthfully, they have been unnecessarily “tight” for much too long. Right now, we are working to take baby steps toward financial freedom. We have lots of dreams, that we believe God will provide and make the way, but we feel Him calling us up to a higher standard of co-laboring with Him, and watch God work a miracle in and through us with finances as we pursue God's best for us.

No more of the far too often paycheck-to-paycheck living. It time to rise up, own our shortcomings, and DO something about it! It’s time to change and embrace the new us; the people that steward what the Lord gives us. To make an impact on our family, others around us and our future.

I wont say that this doesn’t scare me. It scares me to death. But one thing I am confident in – God’s faithfulness to take care of His kids and fulfill His promises.

~Cierra

Settling In

Hi friends!
Jason and I are now in our own home in the little downtown of Newberg, Oregon. It is a one bedroom apartment that couldn't have fit us better for this season. It is in a historic brick building and comes with all the bells and whistles such as hardwood flooring, 10 foot ceilings with beautiful molding and the original huge windows that let the fall light stream in like it's the summer! I love it. I am going through a  "nesting" phase which I guess comes with being pregnant... Yes, I'M PREGNANT!!! I know most of you have known that for some time, but there it is! I am making room in our cute apartment for our new baby girl as we become a new little family. It is refreshing to have our own place again since we have had roommates for the past 2 years! It's amazing that it has actually been that long. What a journey it's been! We have felt God's grace the past couple years to live with roommates, and have benefited from it greatly. You learn so much when you live with people. Some of what you learn is like warm summer memories, and others aren't so... warm. haha.

In our transition back to Oregon, Jason got a full-time job in Wilsonville, which he is really loving (There is a link to his work on the post below).  It's a small company in which he has the opportunity to grow as time progresses. We are in awe of God's faithful provision for us time and time again.

One of our favorite things about this transition back to Oregon is our involvement and new family at our church called New Horizons Church in McMinnville. We had been friends with a few people from the church before moving down to Redding, California, and ended up taking a ministry trip to the church with Kris Vallotton and Paul Manwaring in March of this year. We were very surprised to find ourselves at NHC after we had been praying just 2 weeks prior to the trip about where we were to plug into after graduating from BSSM. I love how God just sets us up. Next thing we know, we are having coffee with the pastors of the church and talking about our plans for the future.
     We are now serving in the youth ministry as youth pastors and feel more and more at home with this amazing church family that seems to have come out of no where! We love it.

Blessings, my friends on your journey, wherever life takes you.

Update!

Gosh, it has been WAY too long since we have used and posted on our blog! A sincere apology for our faithful followers who have been wondering if we had fallen off the face of the earth! I only wish that we had kept up with writing to let you all in on all the things that the Lord has done and is doing in our lives. Where do I start?

Brief Re-cap:

We finished our 2nd year at Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry in May of this year. What an incredible year. We have learned so much and have gained more than we could put into words. Jason and I highly recommend BSSM for anyone who is hungry for more of God and wants to be activated into demonstrating the Kingdom of God like Jesus did and growing in leadership skills. We met many amazing people and will deeply miss the close relationships and culture that we had at Bethel.

After Jason and I graduated, we took a road trip with our roommates and a few friends up north through Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver B.C. We had a lot of fun celebrating our time at Bethel and the opening of a new chapter in our lives.

After our road trip, we sent our Dutch roommates back to the Netherlands and looked to settle back into the Northwest.


Where in the world are we now?

Jason and I have been excited to make Oregon and the Portland region our permanent home! Our dear friends, the Nichols have opened up their home to us in Wilsonville, Oregon as a place of transition as we look for jobs and places to live.  Over the summer, Jason was offered a full time job at Tiffany Home Furnishings where he helps stage homes for sale, work in the furniture wear house, and sell furniture.  He is loving the people that he is working for and loves being in a creative environment.

There is LOTS more to update everyone on, but this is all I have time to write for now!

Blessings,
Cierra & Jason Wortman

Loves of Life

Today is beautiful.  I must say, I love winters in Redding.  Today its suppose to be almost 70 degrees...in December!

Merry Christmas!

There are a handful of things I like and love. Coffee, my wife, grace, dubstep music, early mornings, family, the Church, worship, wine, hearing God, beer, strategy games, listening, people, Holy Spirit, beat-boxing, Jesus, friends, design, color, supernatural school, sunrise, building, snuggling, hugs...

...and the list goes on.

What do you love? Do you know what you love?

God created me for glory and I bring Him glory through enjoying him and the way he has made me.

Merry Christmas from Cierra and I!  We love school and are on the biggest adventure of our lives...thanks for your love, thoughts and prayers.

A Day in Rest

We are already more than a month into school and yet it feels like we have been here for a year!  Our home is full, with two Dutch (Ton and Rianne), two cats, our selves and Holy Spirit.

Tuesdays:  We wake up to our cats...breaking down our bedroom door, pleading for their morning meal-pitifully I must say.  Next is breakfast: french press coffee, fresh bread from the bread machine and maybe an egg and O.J.  Cierra is on call for massage at the day spa she works at, so any given morning she may have a massage or two and sometimes nothing at all.  The rest of the morning we find our selves either on the couch with a book, on our patio with a book, or in the armchair with our computer, often times working on different assignments or filling ourselves with inspiration from music and visual art.  School starts at 12:30, which usually finds us rollin down the road with our car packed with housemates and others on our way to school, sometime after 12:00.  We then get to experience the presence of God in worship for about an hour followed by teaching from 1 or 2 people and then we all split off to different Bible classes for the last part of the day.  One of the best part of any given day is the evening meal, which we usually all eat together, enjoying some sort of fusion dutch/americana recipe contrived by our head chef Rianne.  Confession...we are such homebodies!  Evenings are a time to talk over a glass of wine and process the day or perhaps worship more, or pray, or just lay on the floor and enjoy whatever Holy Spirit wants to do.  Then, slob lecher (spelling??).  Goodnight in Dutch.

A somewhat deep thought: What saves us? Faith in Jesus? I used to think so.  Don't get me wrong, Jesus is the ONLY way to the Father and salvation is only through what He has done on the cross, however, there is something interesting to look at here.

Faith in Jesus does not save us.  It is the grace of God that saves us.

Eph 2:8

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

Now, once you get past the anxiety of the statement I just made, let Holy Spirit draw you into the freedom that this will produce in your heart.  You don't have to work for your salvation.  Faith is simply the turning of our will in the vivid realization of what Christ has done for us on the cross.  We don't have to "work up" enough faith to get saved.  We simply let ourselves agree with what has been done for us.  Just know that you don't have to work to attain your salvation, and you certainly don't have to work to retain you.  Walking with Jesus should be characterized by rest.  Are you at rest?

We love you.

Jason and Cierra.      

The Church and the City

As I watched this interview, it brought so much hope and encouragement to me.  My heart is for Portland, and I am excited to witness God's move of love in it. Click here to watch.

Portland Mayor Sam Adams, City Commissioner Diane McKeel, Kevin Palau and Ken Weigel present a panel at the Q Ideas Portland Conference.

Summer Sun, Shine On..

     It's been about a month and a half since being back home, and time is flying by like we knew it would! On July 2nd, one of my close friends got married to the love of her life in the beautiful hills of Santa Barbara. I had the honor to be in their wedding party on that hot summer day.  I flew down in time for the bachelorette party and last minute wedding preparations. Jason was able to join me a couple days later and ended up being a huge help (as he always is) setting up for the day of the wedding. The wedding was beautiful, as was the gorgeous bride! It was wonderful celebrating their union and their new covenant between each other.  My parents and brother were at the wedding too, so Jason and I had a great time spending some time with them.

      After the wedding, it was officially vacation time! We headed out with my family to San Louis Obispo, about an hour north of Santa Barbara to stay with a relative on my mom's side of the family. We were there for the the 4th of July, and like anyone would on that night, went to a drive-in movie theatre! Well, I guess that's not exactly the tradition for our country, but we decided to change it up a bit. :) It was relaxing an lots of fun just hanging out with my family for a couple days. I miss being able to spend more time with them. I am hoping that they will move to Oregon someday to be closer to us!

      After a couple of days in SLO, my parents, Jason and I jumped in my dad's truck and headed north to Angels Camp, CA. There we met Jason's family at a resort where we stayed for 4 days. We had a ton of fun touring caves, exploring redwood and sequoia forests, swimming and tubing on the nearby lake and playing card games. Jason and I are SO blessed to have AMAZING families that actually get along, and by getting along, I mean love each other! We really enjoy being with each other and have a ton of fun together. We could have definitely spent more time with all of them, and are so thankful for the time that we were able to spend with all of them.

     So now it's back to remodel construction for Jason and for me, enjoying the Oregon sun (when it decides to shine it's face upon us), time to breath, rest, enjoy spending time with friends, farmers markets and setting new goals for myself.

     I hope all of you are enjoying this summer with your family and friends. I would love to hear what this summer entails for you! Feel free to comment, or send us an email!

Love,
The Wortmans

Recounting the steadfast love of the Lord

Isaiah 63:7

^"7I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD,

   the praises of the LORD,

according to all that the LORD has granted us,

   ^(B) and the great goodness to the house of Israel

that he has granted them according to his compassion,

   according to the abundance of his steadfast love. "

Wow, It has been a long time since we have updated the world on how we are doing and what we are up to! It has been a crazy whirlwind since our mission trip to San Francisco at the end of March. God is SO amazing and so GOOD! He has been molding us and changing us this year and we are still processing, even now all that He has done and is doing in us through this past year at Bethel! 


We graduated our first year in May and are now home in Oregon. It has been so good to be back home as we have been enjoying seeing and catching up with family and friends. 


Jason has a job for the summer doing remodel construction, and I am still wondering what this summer will look like for me. I have been settling into our summer home in Tualatin where some friends are letting us stay RENT FREE! God is so faithful. It is the perfect little studio apartment for Jason and I as we process the year together and get some time ALONE after spending 9 long months with 6 people, 2 cats and a dog. Wow. What an experience that was. We learned a lot about patience, kindness, honor, confrontation and love... And probably a bunch of other things I am still not aware of. ha. God is good :) I have learned that no matter what, I will always choose to stand on "God is good". Period.  Because He is. I am blown away by the kindness of God. 

As we head into the summer and beyond, Jason and I plan on doing one more year at BSSM starting this fall. We are excited to receive more vision for the ministry and call that is ahead of us when we come back to the Portland area after the next school year. 

So much ahead... We are all in, and running full force into what God is placing before us. 

Blessings, and more to come!

Cierra

San Francisco, here we come!

We will be off to San Francisco for our mission trip on Thursday morning! It is amazing how time is flying by! We have much to update you all and are excited to fill you in on our happenings. Thank-you for all of your prayers and support for our upcoming mission trip! We were able to pay for the trip in full! Thank-you Jesus!

Please be continuing to pray for us as we head out for our 5 day adventure to the beautiful bay city. Our team will be partnering with "The Promised Land" church and ministering to their staff and ministry school students with prophetic words, preaching, art and music. We will also be doing street ministry in the "tenderloin" section of the city.

Our leaders of our trip are Kristene Mueller-DiMarco and her husband, Jordan DiMarco! (Those of you who are familiar with the Jesus Culture artists will know who Kristene is... and if you don't, look up her music HERE !) :) We are so excited for this privilege and opportunity to share the love of Jesus and serve lots of different kinds of people.

Can't wait to tell you about the trip when we come back!

the art of being

"come and rest" mixed media by cierra

Jason painting

more to come from Jason :)

acylic art by cierra

photography and collages 

Welcoming March

March is here!

We are excited to see what it will bring.

Mission trip preparations, revelations, beauty, divine appointments perhaps?

What are you hoping for this month? :)

New job for Cierra!

Praise the Lord!
I now have a job!  I am really excited about it.  One of our friends in our marriage class is also a Massage Therapist. He works from home and at a spa. He referred me to his manager at the day spa, and the next thing I know, I'm talking to the manager about being an on-call massage therapist! Within the next couple days I gave massages to the manager and the head Massage Therapist, and they both loved me! Hooray!

You can check out my new job on their website: Urban Retreat Spa

Jason has been in contact with a painter who has been trying to transplant his successful business here in Redding, but is finding it a hard task. Pray that he will have favor and that Jason can work for him doing something he loves!

Thank you to all those who have supported us in prayer and financially. We are still asking that you lift us up in prayer in this time!

Blessings,
~C

Full of hope

 We are in an interesting place right now. We are really feeling the weight of no support or income.  I (Jason) have been continually applying for jobs and was blessed to be able to do a few days work for an intern at our school who needed some remodeling done.  Its like a roller coaster ride every day.  We applied for food stamps and they just went through last week, right in the nick of time, so now we don't need to worry about food...praise the Lord!  Our phones got shut off this last monday, so we are phone-less. One of the hardest things during this season, since Christmas, is the silence we have felt from friends.  Our best friends have remained in close touch but we have heard almost nothing from others that we normally communicate with.  

Our relationship as a couple has been strengthening tremendously, but not without moments of perceived despair or conflict caused by growing pains.  We are doing a class called Love After Marriage that is put together by a pastoring couple at Bethel and it is AMAZING!  It has been super challenging but the tools they use are SO good and the end result is a strengthened relationship with God that is reflected in the marriage.  I would look into their material if you are married...i have never seen anything like it (and by seen i mean heard of from our limited  perspective of being married only 3 years haha!)! For the class, we meet once a week and are divided into tables of 4 couples, including ourselves.  We were selected to lead our table as "table facilitators" and know that God has put an emphasis not only in strengthening our own marriage but in bringing freedom and life to other marriages as well.  We are only a few of weeks in and can't wait for more!

Last weekend Cierra and I found ourselves weeping by the closing prayer of Bill Johnson's message.  He touched on areas that God has been stirring in our hearts as of late; Authority and Power.  Authority is like the badge that a police man wears, signifying that someone higher than him has given him permission to do what he is assigned to do.  Authority is given to us as children of God, when we receive Jesus.  Power is like the gun that same policeman carries, a practical tool that that can be used in a very impact-full way.  Often people think that they are operating in power when they are merely under a corporate anointing that God's grace is on.  What Jesus modeled was not simply him, as God, doing miracles by the authority of God.  He showed that only our own personal history, or intimacy with the Father is what makes us true living witnesses with power to a real, living God. Power and Purity are one of if not THE life messages of Bill and the need for us to dig our own wells of intimacy with God is of great importance.  

The book that we are finishing this week is Heavy Rain, by Kris Vallotton.  I could talk about it for hours!  As Kris discusses, the Church needs fathers.  People who create a family and who put an emphasis on maintaining relationship and not on rules or doctrine.  The church also needs teachers and so forth within the 5-fold ministry (Ephesians 4:11 and I Corinthians 12:28) in full operation.  Check it out!

Fun stuff.  We have never felt so full of hope and yet so challenged to express it on a daily basis.  God is good. Thanks for listening to our hearts poured out. 

" For this reason I bow my knees to my Father ... that according to the riches of His glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith  -that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."

Ephesians 3:14-21

More than ordinary significance

art

[ahrt] 

 –noun

1.

the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.

Being in what we call "Bethel Culture" has inspired what is already in us to come out, in the most creative and expressive ways I could think of.  I painted my first painting just a couple of months ago, and had a blast!  Since then I have ventured to create more pieces with mostly acrylic paints.  Jason and I have been having so much fun experimenting with art to express our worship to our King.  He is, after all, our CreaTOR, who made us creaTIVe beings.  He is beautiful, and I love being able to make beautiful things for Him. :) Here are the first couple that I painted.

Getting ready for my very first go at painting. Worship music, canvas, paints and brushes!

   Painting each other paintings for our 3rd Anniversary

just the beginning.

California coast weekend

Last weekend I had the privilege to "tour" the coast with one of my best friends! The occasion? Her engagement! I am so excited for her and her new fiance' as they embark on a new journey together! I have the honor to be in their wedding and support this lovely couple. I was able to find a ride to meet her in San Jose. From there we drove to San Louis Obispo to meet her fiance' for dinner, and then we carried on to her sister's place in Santa Barbara. The drive flew by as we chatted away about life. While in Santa Barbara with some of her close friends and family, she tried on a bunch of wedding dresses and me and some of her bridesmaids tried on bridesmaids dresses! After a long day shopping, we said goodbye to her friends and drove right back up to SLO! After spending the night in a garage (haha, that's another story), we continued our journey to her studio apartment in San Francisco. What a cute place she has there! It was fun to galavant around the city and sight see! It was a fun weekend that I won't forget :)

Here are some snapshots...

A little Anthropology

... and David's Bridal

San Francisco!





















Oh, H&M..




Our date night in, provided by Trader Joes!

Beautiful Golden Gate Bridge

 

Jesus HA ahaha

It was almost 70 degrees outside today!

Cierra and I are constantly overwhelmed with creativity in this culture.  Its so much fun...

Here is a piece I painted a few days back...Cierra did an amazing one too, I will have to put that up soon...

God is destroying old mindsets, one of which is a poverty mindset!  We now are looking at the world in a completely different way!

Have You Ever Had a Sobering Thought? What About the Opposite?

It has been exciting this week getting back into the swing of things here in Redding as we dive into school and homework! This week has also been tough on us financially. I have been trying to set up massage appointments for some extra money ( I'm a Nationally Certified Massage Therapist in case you didn't know ;) )  and Jason has been keeping his eyes open for jobs. It has been hard to balance the "rest" that we feel God calling us to and the "responsibilities" of working.

We are in need of monthly support to help pay our bills and groceries. We have decided to stop driving our car and have downgraded our phone plan.    School is completely paid off and we just need a little more for our upcoming mission trip in March, $140 for me and $95 for Jason.  Praise God!  Just yesterday, friends handed us $60 in cash that covered the rest of our utilities for January.  We can easily survive on $800-$1000 a month.  We are open to your ideas and financial support.

Pride tells me to not ask for support at all, that God will provide no matter what I do.  Love compels me to be honest and vulnerable, relying on others.  Thank you!

Testimonies! (as shared by Jason)

This last Thursday we hit the streets for our weekly treasure hunt and got to see God touch peoples lives in amazing ways!

We stopped a guy and his wife about to go into a chinese restaurant and after praying for his newly replaced hip we saw his mobility go from a 10 (not very mobile but able to walk with a cain) to a 4!  He walked right in to get his food, holding his cain under his arm.  They were both encouraged and exclaimed how they felt special that we had stopped just for them.

After praying for a few other people we came across a young guy who asked us if we had any money...which is sorta funny considering the first part of this post!  I asked if we could pray for him and he exuberantly said YES!  He went on to explain that every time he closes his eyes he sees a pentagram, lifting up his sleeve he revealed a festering red scar where he cuts himself in worship to demons and he then shared with tears in his eyes that his little daughter was being molested by people in the house that he is staying in.  My heart broke for this young man and I was burning for love for him as we immediately began to minister to him.  The more we prayed the calmer he got but after only a few minutes he quickly excused himself to be able to catch the bus he was waiting for.  We watched him run off, knowing that God was not done with him, even if we were for that time.  God's love is jealous as the grave!

Have you ever had a sobering thought?  For me its often times finances or "the future" or something.

Have you ever had the opposite?  For me, its what Jesus did for me on the Cross! HA
I don't have to work for his love.  I don't have to try and do "things" for Him.  He gives me gifts to play with and joy to make me smile. Once I realize how God sees me,  holy, righteous, as royalty...then I stop acting like what I was before I met Jesus, a sinner.  HA ha.

Just last night we were invited to a "Jesus Party" at some house we had never been to before.  Needless to say we met some amazing people from Oregon and spent about 2 or 3 hours prophesying and ministering to a group of young people in town for JESUS CULTURE.  

I painted again last night while listening to Benjamin Dunn.  Check out his new album Circus of Love on iTunes! Or go to his website HERE.

 
Click HERE to donate! Love you guys!

Happy New Year!

Can you believe it's 2011?!

For Christmas, Jason and I got the opportunity to spend the holiday with my family in southern California! We had such a wonderful time with my family and extended family on my dad's side. It was fun to watch Jason's responses while we were celebrating with my amazing, loud mexican relatives. Such different family dynamics create so much flavor... I love it! It was great to see family I hadn't seen in a while and a couple of my best friends added a warmth every Christmas should have! It was hard saying goodbye to my family after 10 days of visiting. I don't know if I realized how much I missed them!

It was nice to have a change of pace and be refreshed by the love of my family. For new years, we had a chill dinner with a couple of our new friends from BSSM and counted in the new year with a youtube re-run of New York's celebration. Ahh, the simple life :)

Many Blessings from the both of us to you and your family this new year! We are excited to see what God will bring. :)

c

The Ecstasy of Loving God

This past Monday my roommate invited me to go with him and his visiting brother-in-law to the local Catholic Christian bookstore here in Redding.  I had nothing else going on, so I agreed, bringing with me the latest book I am working on,  looking forward to some good reading!

I set my book down on a coffee table and decided to look around for a few minutes at the store.  Just from what's on the shelves at this place you can tell this store owner is an active follower of Jesus.

I found myself in the card section and was putting a card back with a cartoon of Jesus "clearing the temple" on a skateboard when a high school aged guy comes up to me and asks if I am the owner of the book about ecstasy.  Before I can even answer he then asks me what I think about ecstasy.  Having no idea of his background or where he was going with the question I asked him if he wanted my opinion on the greek definition and biblical explanation on ecstasies in God or if he was wondering about what I thought about the street drug.  He seemed to get a little bit confused and ended up wandering off as my roommate interrupted with a question about what kind of coffee I was going to get at the cafe there.

For some reason this guy is just drawn to me and after a few minutes he asks me if a want to play guitar with him in the back corner of the store.  He introduces himself as Pauly and before I know whats happening, he's jammed out a nirvana song and has his laptop open showing me his favorite skate videos on youtube.  After about 30mins of chatting it up, I discover that he is the foster child of the store owner and has only been with their family for about 2 weeks.

He keeps wanting to talk about this "super hawt chic" at this new youth group that he is going to but I start sharing with him some testimonies of what God has been doing in my life recently.  I go on to share how God totally showed up on a recent treasure hunt (see past blogs about what a treasure hunt is if you're in the dark) and how two random guys at a disc golf course got to encounter the love of God through prayer and prophecy recently.  After a few minutes I ask him if he knew Jesus and he kinda didn't know how to respond.  I then proceeded to ask him if he wanted to.  He admitted being curious but didn't really know what to do with Jesus.  I got so excited, I started explaining the power of forgiveness and all the things that God has done in my life as I've learned to walk in forgiveness!  I then shared how Jesus was the ultimate model of forgiveness and what He had done for us through his death and resurrection.

I asked him how he was doing, to which he replied that his heart was beating out of his chest.  I told him mine was too...and that's because the Holy Spirit was right there with us!  By this point my friends were signaling me that they were ready to leave, to which I was trying to signal back "just 5 more minutes!"  Looking Pauly in the eye I asked him if he wanted to follow me in prayer to meet Jesus.  He said yes!!!  After we were done you could tell he was deeply shaken and not really sure what to do next.  I had time for just a few more minutes of encouragement as they were in the process of closing the book store down for the evening.

Looking back on that afternoon I had no idea that I would be heading into an Jesus encounter with a high schooler.  God is so creative.  The Holy Spirit totally used Pauly's curiosity in a book about ecstasies in God to lead him into an introduction to Jesus!  Praise God...

Then!... just today, four of us went downtown to bring some clothes to a person we had befriended on a street corner when salvation broke out again!  As we handed Willy his new pair of jeans and a coat we started chatting with another guy there who was clearly inebriated and looking a little worse for wear.  Within about 5 minutes of us being there he begins to share his life story with one of our crew, Philip, who faithfully listened to him pour out his heart.  Phil then began to prophesy love and life into the guy and within 20 minutes he has led him to the Lord!!

Its safe to say that momentum has been building in our hunger to see people encounter Jesus in a tangible way.  True love, real love is as strong as death and His jealousy as fierce as the grave.  Cierra and I both are on a journey to see the true potential of love stirred up in us for others.



p.s.s  Thank you to all who have sent support!  God is such a good provider! These testimonies belong to you as much as they are ours!!!