The Glowathon!

Glowathon Announcement!!!

So its the day of our arrival and Joey calls us up so that we could meet up and have a prayer session for what is to come. After we prayed for city, the church, and our work, Joey started sharing a little about the church and the things he wanted to do. He mention that the members didn't much respond to the bulletin announcements. But what they did respond to was the projector screen and anything that was put on it. So he thought up this plan for the next announcement he would be making. It was the up coming Glowathon that we will be having as a church outreach before the evangelistic meetings get started.

We wrote the script on Wednesday and made sure we had all the equipment ready for Friday. We found a road that was clear from a lot of homes and got to work. None of us are actors by any means so it took longer than all of us had expected. there were some hiccups on the way but overall the church members loved it!!!

We hope you enjoy and Happy Glowing!

By Joey, Mike, and Joe C.

http://youtu.be/Trdf1QFnrvY

Launching into Madera

The City of Madera is home to a little more than  60,000 people most of them being 75% hispanic, 17% Caucasian, 2% African American . The first few days were spent settling in; our host and house mother Teresa Berkebile (who has only been Adventist for a year!) showed us around town. Our home church is located on 520 N st. Madera, Ca 93637. Its a small old style brick church with a tall roof; its sits about 250 members young and old alike! Joey Manzanares our Crosstrainer has been getting us involved in the churches up coming event! We have a Glowathon, a Spiritual Friends class, and the Evangelistic Series coming up in February to get ready for! It is exciting to know that right off the starting line the church has us working on several project, its time to put our training to the test!

There is nothing like sharing the Gospel with others!

How do I start?? I would like to share my testimony but I realize right now that is not what it is about. I will pick up in the summer of 2013 when I was active in a youth rush program in Central California. This day was the day that I saw God do something so amazing!! We were in a town in Northern California called Castroville which is close to the city Salinas. BTW youth rush is a 10 week program that runs in the summer where you go door to door with Christian Bible based literature and do outreach to communities. It is such a blessing! So here we were in week 7 I think, and I had already had so many amazing experiences but the experience I had this day was unlike the others. When we prayed daily we were always asking God for divine appointments. We wanted to meet people and have powerful experiences given to us by God. If you ask God for these I promise He will give them to you. Anyway this was the day I saw God setting things up right in front of me and confirming that it was Him working.

Normally we knock on peoples doors but occasionally we have certain people who do businesses where they go in and talk to people who are working. This day I started my day doing businesses. As I approached a liquor store in a small plaza of businesses I saw a man who was on a cell phone talking abruptly to someone on the phone. He looked more like someone who grew up in the streets. I know this because I grew up in the heart of LA and I know what its like to run the streets or what it intells. Sorry for judging. LOL. The Holy Spirit was telling me to talk to him, but I figured in my head that he wouldn't be interested and that I would not waste time, but instead find someone who would be interested. I kept going forward. When I got done working those businesses another student and I were picked up by our leader.

We were then taken to some houses to knock on doors. Now when we were dropped off we were given directions. This is important because we are told what sides to work either left or right. I was told to work on the left. Now interestingly enough your leader doesn't know what is going to happen at each house. After doing two streets as I go to turn on my third street I notice the same car that I saw in the parking lot of the liquor store I  was doing earlier. I thought "Oh no its the guy from the store" but the difference was I wasn't in a parking lot but now I had no choice I had to knock on the door. As I walk up to the door I can hear him on the phone in the house. The door was open so I started to knock and JD came to the door and he said how can I help you? At this time I start to tell him what I was doing and somehow I start to share with him my testimony. He then looks at me and says "You know I believe in God I pray to Him everyday. Im out here in the streets doing bad things but I want to do better! There are always people coming to doors with scams but I know you are legit I just know it! I remember from the store earlier." I then shared with him one of the books we have called the Great Controversy and he was blown away by what I shared with him. He then gave me a donation for it and also got a DVD we have called Final Events. He then looked at me with a strange look on his face and took a step back. I was really confused so I took a step back to. Then he said, "You know what is crazy? This isn't even my house. This is my mom's house and I just stopped by to grab some shoes because Im going to play basketball." I was completely blown away thinking what are the chances of the timing being so perfect? I knew right then and there that we serve a living God!! This was so powerful!!

To make a longer story short. JD signed up for personal Bible studies and also asked me for my number so he could call me so that I'd be able to pray for him. It gets more divine when later on the same day I ended up knocking on his door at his house and meeting his girlfriend and son. His girlfriend was excited because he had told her about his experience with me. I was able to pray for her grandmother that was in the hospital sick. I saw him as I was walking down the street driving by me and he stopped and said, "Man I know God sent you to me and my family today." He began to say God bless you over and over again.

There are so many people that God want sus to minister to but how many times do we skip over those opportunities because we want to do our own thing? I'm learning day by day what God's will for me is and I know He has a mighty work for me in Madera these next few months. I don't want to miss anymore opportunities to share the gospel with people. I'm exited to see what divine appointments He has for us in this town.