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.

A Much Needed Update on Life

Life is interesting right now in the beautiful state of Utah. It is cold and beginning to snow like crazy. I have a full time job now working with Allied Barton Security Services at Fashion Place mall in Murray, Utah. God has put me right where He wants me. I work with a bunch of guys who need hope and true love in their lives. We all know that this can only be found in Christ. It can be discouraging sometimes going to work because I don't have any type of fellowship, but this motivates me even more and more and I get excited about going to work. I just pray that God will continue to draw my co-workers to Himself and they will see His light shining through me. He makes all things new and I am hopeful that I can see new creation birthed right in my work environment. Other than work, I've just been staying in the Word and seeking out opportunities that God gives me to share His truth with people who crave it but don't know that they crave it. I'm so excited about where God has me in life right now. Life is not easy and I really don't have any solid fellowship with any Lord loving guys out here. It has been a time where my reliance has to be solely placed in Christ and He continues to love me so much and teach me a lot of things along the way. Cydney and I are still going strong. I'm just continuing to serve her and love her as Christ loved us so much that He gave Himself up for us so that He might bring us to Himself. It's been a journey, but God's been showing me that I need to die to myself and serve her graciously and lovingly. I can be a leader in my service to her. She is me in a sense. Her struggles, desires, sorrows, hurts, wants, needs, etc., become my own and I love being there for her through it all and loving her with Christ's love the entire way through. Also, I've realized that my love needs to aim at her sanctification. If I'm to love her as Christ does then I need to be most concerned with her progression towards holiness. I am hopeful that at His coming she will be presented to the Lord as holy, blameless, and upright. I am confident that He who began the work in her will perfect it at the day of Christ Jesus. I wouldn't trade where I'm at in life right now for anything.

I live in Sandy, Utah now instead of Salt lake. I am living with a family that Cydney and I go to church with at Lifeline Community Church. I can't wait until Loren and Carrie get out here so we can start going to church together. Keep the Llanos family, the Carpenter family, the Orrin Family, the Peterson family, the Stott family, and the soon to be Morales family in your prayers because I would love for them to be out here as soon as possible too so that we can get started on building the Lord's kingdom soul by soul and that we would worship our God and Savior together in unity of the spirit. I love my family and I long to see them again in the near future, but until then, God continues to supply me with unexplainable grace and mercy that is found in His son. I wish that I could keep in touch with everyone, and I do try my hardest, but if anyone has a desire to call me up and chat sometime, feel free to call me at 559-999-4125. I would love to chat and pray, and catch up on life.

I won't be coming home for thanksgiving, christmas, or new year's this year so I will definitely be home sick. I love you mom (you too dad). I can't believe that God has blessed me so with a mother like you. You are living proof of God's grace being shown in my life. Thank you for everything that you do. I really appreciate you.

This is kind of random, but Real Salt lake, Utah's major league soccer team, won the MLS cup. This is the first major league professional championship in Utah state history. AWESOME :-)

New Beginnings

So, for those of you that do not know, I have moved to Utah. I decided to go and let God be God. He is so huge and amazing and I know that with focus upon Him I can't go wrong. Utah is a new but awesome experience. I am currently seeking full time employment so that I can get my own place and live on my own. Right now I am staying with my friend Garrett who is gracious in letting me stay at his place for the time being. I had an interview today with Allied Barton which is a Security Agency. The interview went very well and I have another one tomorrow at 1:00 PM. Today was my first day ever in my life driving in blizzard like snow. I don't have any type of snow tire on my car so it was a terrifying but fantastical experience. I survived, but I only think it was because I was praying the whole time I was driving, and, yes, I was praying with my eyes open. I can use so much prayer that God would just continue to draw me to Himself in this time of trust and obedience to His Word. Also, that I would be on guard against doubt from the evil one and wholeheartedly focused on worshiping and delighting in the Lord. I took a video on my phone today of the snow like conditions in Salt Lake. Enjoy. Until next time, thanks for prayer and I love all of you guys.

Big Day @ BYU

Today I went to BYU with my friends Randy (Mormon Research Ministry) and Jim. We had an awesome day getting into conversations with members of the LDS Church. First off, I got into a conversation right away with a guy named Tyler for about an hour and a half or so and it was very fruitful. I won't go into all of the details, but you can ask me when you see me. Also, we talked to Greg, Sterling, Sam, and Adam. All of our conversations were free of any sort of contention. Both parties were open for discussion and it was a very fruitful time of evangelism. The Lord used us boldly today and my prayer would be that His words attach to their hearts and eat away at them until they can't take it any longer. We planted the seed in hopes that someone else would come along and water it so that the Lord can produce His fruit and make it grow. It was a great day and I'm looking forward to the next time I can go out. Thank you all for your prayers. Leave me any prayer requests you all may have as well and I would be blessed to pray for you in any way that I can. LET THE PEACE OF CHRIST RULE IN YOUR HEARTS:-)