update...

“In the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence.”  Proverbs 14:26

 

We are in the midst of some big changes in our lives! 

 

First, we want to let all of you know that we will no longer be working with YWAM Boston.  After lots of prayer and discussions with the leadership of YWAM Boston and others, we feel confident in saying that being there was not a good long-term fit for our family.  We are thankful and blessed to have been there for a season, and are still excited for all that God is doing in Boston.  And we are very thankful for all of our friends in Boston.

 

We also feel confident in saying that God has another ministry opportunity prepared for us.  We are currently looking for a position where we can continue to work with Worship and Missions and mobilize people to reach the world for Christ.  Right now, our search is leading us toward working in some type of pastoral setting in a church, but we are open to whatever opportunity the Lord may send our way. 

 

If you know of any openings as a Worship Leader or Missions/Outreach Pastor, please let us know. 

 

For those of you that financially support our ministry, you may continue to do so through YWAM Boston, 23 Emerson St, Newton, MA 02458, until December 31.  We believe by that time we will have more specifics and can share them with you when we have them. 

 

Please be praying with us in this time of transition as we seek the Word of the Lord about our next step. 

 

We are currently living with Matt’s mom in Clymer, PA.  The kids are all doing well and enjoy being around our extended family.  Sarah continues to struggle with morning sickness, but we are hoping it will end soon!  The baby is due June 1.

 

Thanks for all of your love, support and prayers on our behalf. 

 

Waiting on Him…

 

Matt and Sarah

 

Aunt Becky and Uncle Fred Birthday Presents

Thanks for the presents!!!! For those of you watching the video the skirt actually plays music from "Swan Lake" when Abby dances around :) David and the frog is priceless, too.

happy birthday abby

Our sweet daughter Abigail turns five today! She is the special joy of our life and is growing up (fast) into a wonderful girl. Happy birthday Abby, and we pray for God’s fullest blessings in every part of who you are growing up to be.

what does it mean to love without hypocrisy?

What does it mean to love without hypocrisy?

(click on the pic to make it bigger...)

We are here in Boston, have a house, a neighborhood and even now a new office building for our ministry. But I am still trying to find my place – my location on the map of this organization. I think I need to rediscover a little more of what it means to love.

Obedience alone is not enough. Following the call out of trust even isn’t enough. Staying the call out of perseverance is not the way. Love is what is required. With all my heart, all my mind, and all my soul.

I can’t make a love like this, but I can posture my heart and life to receive it and be a conduit. I can receive the graceful love of my heavenly Father, every day learning a little more what it looks like to be a true son. I can extend loving ways and behaviors to those around me – assume and presume less, withhold judgments, and truly believe the best. ‘There is no victory without hearts of purity.’

People are ultimately the best objects of love. We can love things, ideas, callings/vocations/jobs, places, etc. But that love will always really be one-sided. When you love people, that love takes on life, sows seeds, breaks chains, changes the world.

Let love be without hypocrisy.

I don't want to be an actress

The other night as we were putting Abby and David to sleep, Abby was just being so loud and dramatic. She was singing at the top of her lungs, dancing, jumping, and making HUGE body gestures. She was being so crazy, I almost couldn't take it anymore :)

I said to her, "Abby, you are totally going to be an actress when you grow up." She looked at me and said, " Well, Mom, I don't want to act like anything - I just want to be what God made me to be."

Oh...the wisdom from the faith of a child. For some reason, all of her craziness didn't seem to bother me anymore because that's who Abby is...A beautiful creation from a loving God.

Inflation at a lemonade stand

Just 2 nights ago we met up with friends from Kentucky here in Boston. We were just walking back to our car after getting some ice cream. As we were walking there was a 10 year old boy selling lemonade on the sidewalk. Well...I have a weakness for little children and their lemonade stands...I just can not walk by it without having a guilty conscience. Yes, it is a weakness.

So I pulled out a dollar and told him that we wanted two lemonades. And he responded, "Well, that will be another dollar..."

ANOTHER DOLLAR. He didn't even have lemons in his instant lemonade, and they were small cups!

I guess the higher prices in Boston even go as far as a little kids lemonade stand... has our economy gotten THAT bad? No, I don't think so. I just ran into a very business savvy 10 year old :)

Well...he ended up giving me "2 for the price of one"
Maybe next time I won't feel as guilty walking by without buying?

PROBABLY NOT :)

BACK UP and RUNNING...

Sorry, everyone, for the long delay on any updates. We are now back up and running. I plan on updating at least once a week now...so check back often.

Well...where to start?

Ministry
We have had a VERY busy summer here in Boston, and Lord has been so good to us and our ministry. Over the past 3 months we have seen over 1600 people give their lives to Jesus here in the Boston area..."the fields are white..." I can not express in words how humbling it is to be able to see peoples lives change from despair to hope and from depression to LIFE.

We are about to send out our newsletter. In it I have written a story about one woman I talked to and how the love and power of Jesus has changed her life...please read it when you get it.

I have put up a picture of the team Matt and I led as we went out to the Boston area to share about Jesus.

Family
We are beginning to settle in to our new home now. There are soooooo many things in this area that are so different, but we are all adjusting and blessed to be able to live in an area of the US that impacts the entire world.

Abby is beginning to learn to read. She is just so beautiful. David wants to do everything that Abby does, but he is also SUCH a boy. He has taken on jumping on everything. I might even try to post a video of him.

So...just a little note to let you know we are still here and things are going well but very fast and very busy.

We're Here and David's Birthday

We have made it to Boston and we are settling in. Thank you to all of you who came to help us load the truck in PA. We will miss you. We have moved in to one side of a duplex. It is very nice. It has higher ceilings compared to our other homes and all wood floors...I never noticed how loud my children were until we moved into this place :) Needless to say...we really like it here, and we are so blessed to be working with people who impact the world for Jesus. Most of the Boston team are in the UK right now...feel free to check out their blog.

http://encountertour2009.blogspot.com/



On Saturday, in the mist of moving in, we celebrated David's second birthday. We have a tradition of decorating the house with balloons and streamers after the kids go to bed the night before, and Sarah will make a "themed" cake. Then we wake the kids up with birthday music and dance to music in the morning. Because Abby is older now, I think she was waaaaaaaaay more excited about David's birthday than he was, because she knows what happens. She tried waking us up at six to go down stairs to celebrate. The theme this year was Thomas Trains, because David loves trains. Here's a picture of the cake. Yes...for those of you that know me and know I am not very "domestic", I do sometimes surprise myself :)


We had a wonderful time and David is so cute and so much fun. He brings so much joy and excitement to our home. We love you David xoxoxoxoxoxo

It’s time to move!

We’re packing up! We’ll be loading our moving truck on Friday and driving to Boston this weekend to begin our new adventure serving on staff with YWAM Boston. Things are happening fast!

We’ve had a great time visiting with a lot of you these past couple of months and have visited some wonderful churches. Thank you for all of your support as we venture out into the ‘unknown’ – knowing that the God revealed and known to us through Jesus Christ is guiding and providing.

Abby and David are doing well and growing up fast. Abby graduates from pre-school this Thursday and David turns two on May 30. He’s a handful!

Places to check out:

www.ywamboston.org – the official website of the ministry we will be working with. You can read more about the work they have been doing, what we will be doing in Boston, and donate online!

www.encountertour2009.blogspot.com. A few weeks ago Matt spent the week in Boston helping the DTS Team put the final touches on YWAM Boston’s first original stage production, Encounter. It uses music, dance, multimedia and drama to tell the Gospel story. It’s very cool and very powerful, and it’s the type of thing we are most excited to work with in the years to come. They are currently on a 6 week tour in the United Kingdom. You can follow their adventures at this site.

Generacion Josue 2009

Here is a highlight video of the youth camp/outreach we were a part of in Peru.

maundy thursday communion

we had communion together today at the pittsburgh base. it's not something that we do very often (hard enough to get everyone in the same country at the same time, let alone the same room), and it was special enough just to be together Remembering as we descend to Good Friday and rise to Easter.

We took a few moments in the midst of it all to let God speak, and of course He did. Or at least He did to me. Two things really....1. I felt a great sense of joy to be in the room with Jesus and the other 30 or so people. We weren't much to look at on the outside (especially since we were in the middle of spring cleaning day), but on the inside I saw a very special group, willing to lay down their lives in usually unglamorous settings that require dedication and faithfulness. And I thought how great it was that there were at least 30 people (and a lot more in the world) willing to work as missionaries to spread the Easter message to people who've never celebrated it.

2. God told me i was not crazy:). Sometimes i can feel crazy trying to be faithful to a call that is culturally not normal. We've been in transition now for a long while, our GPS is set on Boston, but we are not there yet. And there have been days of discouragement. But God reminded me that we are not crazy for following the call of a good God, and that it is an honor to serve Him. And my difficulties are very minor in comparison to that of others, and especially of what Jesus suffered. It is worth it...it is not cliche to say 'He is worthy.'

matt

we're moving to Boston!

Some of you already know, but in case you haven't heard, we're moving again!

We'll be moving sometime in May to work on staff with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) in Boston. They have a great base there that focuses on Creative Arts in Worship as a vehicle for discipleship training and evangelism. They reach out locally in Boston and also are focused on taking teams to the nations.

We're really excited to become part of their community, and are amazed at the opportunity before us. Boston is a wonderful and historical city, but is also very much in need of a fresh presentation of the Gospel. It is one of the least churched areas of the country - some say as low as 5%. It is also an entry point for many first generation immigrants, as well as being home to 250,000 college and university (Harvard, MIT, Boston Univ, etc) students each year - 42,000 of these being international. So it is a great place to reach out and influence the world, but also to train missionaries and then take them out to the world.

Most importantly, we can feel the gentle but confident hand of our heavenly Father guiding us each step of the way. We want to do this because the call of God is good - and this is where He is calling us. He is faithful and totally good, and we can look backward and see that He has been preparing us for this for a long time.

Would you consider joining our monthly support team? You can check it all out at www.ywamboston.org, and even donate online to help us make the move.

Trip to Wilmore

Here are some pics of our trip back "home" to Wilmore. We had a great time. We stayed with Jonathon and Anna Marie, Isaac, and Kayla. It was sooooo much fun. We loved seeing everyone.

outreach highlight video

hey everyone...here is the official YWAM Pittsburgh highlight video of our outreach trip to Brazil and Peru. Have fun!

Everly

Well...here is one story of many from our trip. On the very left of this picture is a young man named Everly. Everly was part of the group of 20 boys that Ken, Anita and I talked to in the poor, sandy neighborhood in Lima. Here is his story.... Everly's story with Jesus started a few years ago when his mother died in his arms. When this happened, he told God he would never forgive him for this. Well, also in his life Everly's grandma was very abusive towards him and his father was a working criminal. About 2 weeks before we came to his neighborhood he was visited by a person who was part of a "Spiritus" religion. Everly felt do depressed and hopeless he said he was willing to listen to anything. Then our group came... Everly said he was so confused that when we came and Ken spoke to him about Jesus, his confusion went away and God touched his heart. Everly then came to our "Joshua Generation" camp. During this time, Everly sat through a teaching on forgiveness and some consequences in our lives from unforgiveness. This teaching changed Everly, he asked God to forgive him from turning from him when his mother died. After that, he began to work through forgiving the family members that hurt him. He called his father, and they have started a new relationship together.
Everly's life has been completely transformed because of the love of Jesus.

So...when we open our mouths to preach the gospel, we release the glory of God. The Glory of God is now made evident in Everly's life.

We're HOME!

Hello Everyone!

Just to let you know, we are back in Pittsburgh...safe, happy, and healthy. We got back to our house about 5:30 pm Monday. And for those of you who did not hear...we had a little mouse problem while we were gone...aaarrrggg (welcome back to western pa :) So far Matt has caught about 12 mice, (he calls it a massacre)and I am sure there will be more. Just a little side note - I was in South America on the mission field and I never saw a mouse in any of the houses I stayed in.

So we have some wonderful news. From the 9 weeks we were gone we are so blessed to let you know that over 5,000 people prayed with our team to dedicate their lives to Jesus. We worked with approximately 20 churches who are now in the process of following up with these people, getting them bibles, transportation, and discipleship. Some of our team members also stayed back to aid the churches in follow-up.

We have some wonderful individual stories of some of the people we talked to and how Jesus has changed their lives. Tomorrow (or the next day) I want to post their stories. Because it was from your giving that made these stories possible...

We love you all

catch up

hey friends...been real busy lately, but wanted to give some highlights. we are currently working with Joshua Generation in Peru. We are serving as staff for the Peruvian youth that have been trained and are now performing on the streets and sharing Jesus. They are an amazing bunch.

we have about 6 days left...and that is probably a good thing. :) it will be good to get home and get some rest. we get home on monday feb 9th.

some other random highlights...got to watch the super bowl at a big sports bar in lima...it was listed on the pittsburgh post gazette website as an official steeler WORLD spot...so we went to check it out and had a great time. david got his first peruvian hair cut yesterday..and he hated every minute of it. hair everywhere! and both david and abby continue to speak more spanish...david loves to say agua!

we are healthy and doing well...thanks for all the prayers, but keep them coming! we need prayer!

love you all and see you soon!
matt (not the usual poster to this blog! sorry for any lack of quality that you may be previously used to! sarah will be back soon!)

Power of Jesus

Dear Friends,
It has been a busy but wonderful time of ministry here in Lima,Peru. Last night we started our 18 day "camp" for Peruvian youth called "Joshua Generation". Youth from all over the city have come to learn more about their faith and then go out and do ministry in their city. Some good news about this...last week we were in a very poor area of the city. First we climbed up a mountain of sand and then knocked on doors to some houses that were just square blocks made of bricks. Some of the houses had a full roof...some did not. We performed and hundreds came out to watch. After we began to talk to them. I was with my friend Ken and we talked to about 20 young men. I was amazed! Once Ken began to talk about sin and how it separates us from God and the consequences that happen when we sin, you could hear a pin drop with these boys. We shared with them about the free gift of salvation through Jesus and they all wanted to pray to accept Jesus into their lives. We then asked them if any of them go to church and they said that they really wanted to go to church but they had no way to get there (no car and no money to pay for a bus). The church we were working with brought a bus back to that area the next day and picked up those boys to bring them to church. Two of those young men have come to join us at "Joshua Generation", YAY! Yesterday our group went back to that place to give them food and other groceries since many of them do not have very much.

So far we have talked to over 2,250 people with about 1,000 praying to accept Jesus as their Savior. I am forever humbled because it really has nothing to do with what we do...we can have a good performance or a bad performance. We can talk like an amazing charismatic speaker or fumble around with our words. It really has nothing to do with us. It is the power of Jesus working in the lives and hearts of these people that we talk to. Many of them tell us "I never come to this park/place, but today I came and now I know that I was sent here by God so I could meet and talk to you."

Friends, if you are struggling in knowing more about Jesus or do not know him, the same spirit that has been working here can come alive in your life too. Our relationship with God transcends bad relationships with Christians or bad teachings at churches...He brings self-worth, value, and LIFE.

Street Children

Sorry...no pictures yet. But some great updates. First, we met up with a Catholic group who went out to give presents to street kids and then we talked to the families about Jesus. We had a great time working with them. And yesterday, after our time on the streets, the street kids followed us back to the church. The church was so happy, because now the kids are going to come back again today, and hopefully for a long time to come.

We are in Peru

After 2 long days of travel - one by bus, one by plane - we have made it to Peru. We do have more internet access here, so I hope to post more from our trip. When I have some down time I will try to post some more pics of Brazil - and some from Peru.

Just a note - Abby was sooo cute today. We were at a park doing outreach and there were many kids. Abby thought they needed some "prizes" so she found a stamp that she got and lined them up to give them a stamp on their hands. The cutest thing about it was that no one was translating for her - she just did it on her own. She also let a little street girl her age sit in her stroller to watch our show and then later gave that street girl a balloon that Abby had received from someone else. She makes our heart very happy.