Basketball Buzz

The last couple of weeks have been really great. A good LDS friend of mine invited me to his ward's stake center to play some basketball. I've been playing with him and a lot of other guys on Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings. All of the guys were really welcoming and it has just been such a great opportunity to get to know a lot of guys who need the truth of the gospel. I am getting to know a lot of the guys pretty good and it's getting to the point where we are starting to hang out a lot even outside of playing basketball. I have also been doing a lot of stuff with my friend who originally invited me. In fact, we went out for dessert the other night and just talked about life for about an hour. He talked a lot about his mission. He knows that I am not LDS but it is so cool that he still wants to build a relationship with me. Just pray that God would give him ears to hear and eyes to see and that I would be a vessel emptied out of myself only to be filled with the Holy Spirit in witnessing to him. You can pray anything else you might want to, but those are just a couple of suggestions. I am just so excited about what the Lord is going to do in these guys that He has placed in my life. I just want to see souls saved here and I'm very excited to be apart of it. Love you guys and really appreciate the prayers. Let us toil and strive on behalf of the gospel of truth.

Changes

Things are going to change real quick. What I mean is that Cydney and I will be married on May 2nd and will be living together to serve the LORD and display His blood bought covenant relationship for all to see. This is going to be new and fresh for both her and I so I would really welcome prayer for that. Also, we are going to be looking for an apartment in the bountiful or Centerville area which is where the church will be planted at. We definitely need to be in that area so it will be easier to do ministry and serve the LORD more wholeheartedly. It has been difficult to do so up to this point because I live a little over a half hour away right now. I am usually in Centerville about three to four times a week and that is definitely tough to do with a really tight budget and a long distance to travel. Nevertheless, God is good and He works out all things according to His purpose and for the good of those that love Him.

Also, all of us could use prayer in Utah for the Church itself, and more specifically that the LORD would send workers into His harvest field. Right now we are in the pre-launch phase of the church planting process. We are hoping and praying that the LORD would send us other Christians who have a heart for seeing the lost get saved to build a fully functional launch team. This will get us to the point where we can start a full Sunday service in a church building some time down the road.

Praise God for the Carpenter family making it here to Utah and finding a place to stay in Centerville. Blake was provided a full time job with Overstock.com. He has great benefits for his family and great pay to support them as well. Also, we are continuing to pray for the Stott family and that everything will go smoothly for them to get out here as soon as possible. They are in the appeal process of their adoption proceedings and it has been a long trial filled road for them. If you could keep them in your prayers that would be greatly appreciated as well.

Carrie's friend, Tamara is here with us in Utah for three months and she has been a huge blessing to the Pankratz family as well as everyone else that interacts with her. She is only able to get a three month visa which is unfortunate because we would hope that the LORD would keep her here forever to help us in His work. So, also keep that in your prayers when you remember her in your time with the LORD.

So, Cydney and I will be coming back to Fresno, CA on the night of April 27th and will be there until May 7th. I am excited to see all of my friends and family. I love all of you guys so much and God is my witness how I long for you with the affections of Christ.

LIFE

I am so sorry that it has taken me this long to update my blog. Life can fly by so quickly that I forget to stop and think about others who probably want to know what's been going on. I am so sorry. Please forgive me for taking so long.

I have never experienced so many trials in life. It is so overwhelming and hard at the same time. There are just so many things that try to pull me down with the way of the world. It is easier said than done to be in the world but not of it. That has been my biggest struggle. I've just been trying to figure out what the Lord has in store over the next couple of months. There are just so many things to think about, but I try not to take it all in at once lest I overwhelm myself. A few of these things include getting closer to Centerville so that it is easier to be where the church is. Right now I live in Sandy, Utah and it is about a thirty minute drive to Centerville where the church is meeting regularly. Another thing is getting financial ducks in a row before Cydney and I get married in May. Yes, for those of you that have not heard, Cydney and I are engaged to be married. I have to try and find a reasonably priced apartment in Centerville, probably in April, so that after Cydney and I are married we can move right in and call a place home for a little while. It has just been so overwhelming with finances lately, so if you guys could pray for that aspect of life it would be so greatly appreciated. We know that without a shadow of a doubt that God is going to take care of everything if only we would yield our wills to His day after day and seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. That is half the battle, however; getting our wills to yield to His day after day and our stubborn autonomous hearts to trust in Him. I've been in prayer so much and know that God has me right where He wants me in life right now. Whatever happens, it is all for His glory and praise anyways. After all, the Word of God calls us to consider these trials with pure joy. They give us an opportunity to prove genuine faith and assurance of hope in Christ our Lord. I just thank God in all my remembrance of you for your daily petition on behalf of the saints, before the throne of our Lord. I love you all and can't wait to see you on May 2nd as Cydney and I proclaim our one flesh union before the God that has joined us together.

Harvest Work at Work

So tonight was a great night at work. I started work at about 3 PM but got there a half hour early. I was talking with my supervisor, whose name is Corbyn, and he and his wife are very interested in getting involved in a bible study. They are ex-members of the LDS church and are seeking truth. I had an opportunity to tell him about Tim Keller's sermon on the parable of the two sons in Luke 15. He was going to listen to it for me and let me know what he thought. If you guys could just pray for him, that God would draw him in and that he would experience the risen Lord in all of His grace, love, truth, and mercy.

Also, at work, I responded to a shoplift at Nordstrom's. A guy stole some pairs of jeans but was apprehended by Nordstrom's Loss Prevention and then detained by the Murray Police Department. As part of my procedure I banned him from the mall, got his personal information, and I took a photo of him for my incident report. I cleared scene and then resumed patrol of the parking lots in the security vehicle. About two hours later, the same guy that got caught for shoplifting was released from police custody and he returned to the mall for his car. He flagged me down while I was on patrol because he needed help with finding his car. We started to look for his car, but then we got into a conversation. He told me that he felt stupid and embarrassed for taking the pants and that his life was just really messed up right now because he has no money. I asked him if he was LDS and he said that he was. I told him that I was a protestant christian and why I was in Utah. I also told him what I thought about Joseph Smith and the so called gospel that the LDS church professes. He remained silent the entire time and the Lord presented me with an opportunity to share the true gospel. It was such an awesome blessing to be used by the Lord to dispense truth and love. I gave him my name and phone number and told him to call me any time that he wanted to. Pray that God would give him eyes to see and ears to hear the beauty of the love of Christ for us that was poured out on the cross. God is so good and it baffles me that he would use feeble human beings to reflect His own holy character in ministering to others. Love you all. Thanks for your prayers.

Beautiful Day in Provo, Utah

Today was an awesome and glorious day in the city of Provo, Utah. Randy sweet and I went to BYU to evangelize to members of the LDS church. All praise goes to the LORD for the opportunity to share His truth and boy did we ever. We were first driving through Center Street in Provo and Randy spotted three missionaries standing on a street corner. I've never seen him so excited before in my life. He pulled the car over at his first convenience and we got out to pursue the missionaries. We got into a great conversation about the grace of God until it was cut short by their ride coming to pick them up. We had the opportunity, by the grace of god, to share the glorious good news of the gospel which is the grace and mercy of God extended to unrighteous sinners. After that conversation ended we got back into Randy's car and drove to BYU. We headed straight for the BYU food court because that is our favorite place to get into great conversations. We decided to take the straight forward approach. We walked up to two guys in the food court that were eating lunch and let them know that we were Protestant Evangelical Christians from Sandy who wanted to get into friendly discussion about the LDS church and what it teaches. They willingly accepted the offer and that initiated a good two hour conversation. Once again Randy and I had the merciful opportunity to share the truth of the gospel and the fact that we are justified by faith alone apart from any works done on our own. It was such a blessed day and we had great conversations that were not contentious at all but progressive in not setting aside the grace of God that is only found in Christ. Randy and I were graciously allowed by our LORD to put some mud in their eyes and we're hopeful that He will do the washing and regenerating which will enable them to see the unfathomable riches of His mercy and kindness. His patience is designed to lead us to repentance and my prayer is that God will continue to be patient for their sakes and continue to draw them to Himself. If you could, pray for the guys that we talked to today that the LORD would grant them repentance and that they would receive assurance of salvation that is eternally secured through the blood of the lamb that was slain for the sins of the whole world. Their names are Rick, Donnie, Elder Tueller, Elder McClurg, and Elder Barrera. My heart aches for them because it is going to be hard to enjoy being in the presence of the LORD for eternity without them. PLEASE PRAY.