Changes for Jason & Justine!

There are some huge changes in store for us. No, we're not pregnant. We've had to clarify that with everyone that we've told this news to.

Our job positions are changing this season! For the past year and a half, as you all know, we've been working with the Justice ministry of YWAM San Francisco (human trafficking, as well as working with immigrants through ESL). We've loved it and grown so much in this ministry. God has heightened our awareness of social justice issues and it will always be a priority of ours in whatever ministry/field we find ourselves in later in life.

After a lot of prayer and advice from our leaders this summer, both of us felt like God was leading us back into staffing YWAM's Discipleship Training Schools. Let us give you a little overview on what the DTS is, in case you aren't already aware:

YWAM San Francisco runs DTS twice a year for young people ages 17-29 years old. We combine classroom learning and hands on experience in knowing God and making Him known. Students are given the opportunity to develop their relationship with God, in creative and innovative environments.

The first portion of the DTS is spent at our training facility just blocks away from the hub of the city, located in the Tenderloin neighborhood. Surrounded by urban needs and challenges students are encouraged to dig deep in pursuing God through lectures, small group discussions, reading assignments, and personal reflection. In this significant location students experience God in extraordinary ways. God reveals himself through the life and people of the city.

DTS students spend two months in target nations doing daily ministry with a strong emphasis on evangelism and mercy ministry. Fall schools focus on SE Asia while Winter schools focus on Italy and one other country. Outreach enables students to walk out what they've learnt through practical, hands on involvement. Previous outreach teams have been involved in the following: ministered in Thai slums, built a school in Morocco, visited university campuses in Rome, worked to reach those caught in sex-trafficking and used performing arts in the famous piazzas of Italy.

Both of us have staffed Discipleship Training Schools in the past. We love working with young people and seeing their faith grow and their relationships with God deepen. Many students experience healing from emotional and broken pasts. It's incredible to see them respond to God's love and the community that DTS provides as well as to grow in their own gifts and personalities as they discover the long-term vision that God has over their lives.

Our YWAM leaders have asked us to lead the next January DTS together. This is a new experience for us! We've both staffed before, but this will be our first time leading the school. As school leaders, we will be responsible for all of the planning of the school, appointing teachers, overseeing ministry and staff, as well as planning the focus of and leading the overseas outreach. Please be praying for us as we take on this new role of leadership. We can't wait to share with you all how God is encouraging the students as well as how he's growing us. Pray that we allow Him to teach us and lead us in this time.

For more information on our DTS, or if you know any young person that would be interested in attending a DTS, follow this link: http://www.ywamsanfrancisco.org/dts

The end of our summer classes!

Wow, it's hard to believe the summer is nearing it's end! For the last five weeks, we have been teaching English as a Second Language to immigrants in our area every morning. What an amazing experience this has turned out to be! We had about 10 students show up throughout the five weeks, but only five of them remained consistent. I really believe that God wanted us to be able to deeply invest in these students. One young girl from Peru who is here on her summer vacation visiting family is still meeting with a YWAM staff for English tutoring every week. The other four students were men. Our students came from El Salvador, Honduras, Thailand, and Mexico, so it was a diverse class! Three of them came to us in situations of financial struggle, the need for job opportunities being linked with the need to learn English. We taught them so much in the jam packed weeks, including grammar, sentence structure, reading and conversational skills, resume writing, questions asked in interviews, etc. They were all so eager to learn! We are so grateful to God to tell you that two of the three that were struggling to find jobs are now employed! Our other student (we will call him "Juan") is still working on his English speaking and searching for a job. At this point, we have him signed up for ESL classes to begin in two weeks at the local community college, and he is also signed up to start a training course for construction, with the aim to begin a job in that field afterwards. Please keep Juan in your prayers, for his English skills to continue to improve as well as for his financial situation. Juan is actually a US citizen, but has had such a struggle through the years in finding jobs that pay well enough for him to be able to have stability. During our time of getting to know Juan, we've been able to pray for him and his situation. It's also exciting, because three of our ESL students will continue to come to our building for fellowship and to play pool in the afternoons! We look forward to continuing our relationship with them, in helping them with their practical needs and through friendship in sharing God's love.

Thank you for praying for us this summer. God taught us so much these last five weeks in teaching English and building relationship with our students. Jason and I both really love to teach English, and this experience helped grow that!

We are still praying and talking with our leaders about what we will be involved with in the YWAM ministries this next season. We will be updating soon on this!

A teaching from Tim Svoboda...

The leader of the organization that we work for here in San Francisco, Tim Svoboda has taught us a lot about what it means to be in "ministry" and opened our minds to a lot of options!  I wanted to share with all of you something really valuable that he's taught us.  We are both praying a lot about how God would want us to use our skills to be an influence of good in San Francisco.  Here is the teaching from Tim that best explains that values that we are applying to our lives!

Tim talks about 10 spheres of influence in society.  Economy, Medical, Science, Arts, Business, Media, Education, Family, Government, and Church (or missions organization!).

"Two influence these spheres, two things have to happen. 

1. Believers have to be empowered to minister in their sphere of society.  There needs to be a clear understanding that the mission field is not just "way over there" but it is right here where we are working and spending most of our time.  We must tear down the old division between what is secular and what is sacred, and change our perspective on the need for people to become "full time missionaries" by leaving their jobs.

2. The second thing that has to happen is that Christians need to allow God to show them how they can transform society by applying biblical values within their sphere of society.  For example, Christian education is not Christian just because Christians are teachers.  
Let me explain another paradigm shift that I believe has to take place if we are going to be effective in our ministry..."

((Tim has two diagrams at this point, that I don't know how to put on the blog!  Essentially, the first one is a group of "spheres" encircling one large sphere.  The small spheres are the 9 spheres of influence, with the tenth sphere being Church/YWAM being the focal point in the middle!))

"In the first diagram, I have taken 10 spheres of society and put them in a diagram with the church in the center.  The reason I put the church or YWAM in the center is because I used to think the church of YWAM was the key to transforming society.

When we think the church or YWAM is the key to transforming society we will end up calling people from other spheres into our church services and programs.  Pastors or YWAM leaders can see a good musician and call them to the church or base because they see leading worship as their calling.  Or an educator can be called to church to fill the role of teaching Sunday School classes.  When the paradigm has the church or YWAM as the center we become focused only on the growth of our organization and the effectiveness of our programs."

((The second diagram has "Christians in the City" as the center focal point, and the 10 spheres of influence as the small spheres encircling))

"However if you look at this next diagram you will see almost the same picture but the church has been taken out of the center and instead I have put "Christians in the city" - or, local Christians - there, which in reality is the church.  It is only the building that I have taken out of the center because the organization has been taken out of the center of our thinking.

YWAM can be as guilty as the local church for putting ourselves in the center.  If we make this change in our thinking we open up possibilities for YWAM to be more involved with non YWAMers who are in the marketplace."

So, there you have it!  This paradigm shift is happening in our thinking, and I think even a step further than this, we are hoping as YWAM, that YWAMers will be linked in the marketplace through what we call Business as Missions, which would be a business functioning as a normal business, but its focus to be to influence and connect with people in either a mercy ministry way, or an evangelistic way, rather than focused on profit.  

Please continue to pray for both of us as we pray about this and other ideas that we have to do what God's calling us to do and to be able to truly connect with our neighbors in San Francisco and share God's truth with them in a real-life way.

June!

I can't believe we are almost in June now...we have a lot coming up this month!  We just returned from our vacation to Southern California, visiting both of our families down there.  It was wonderful, refreshing, and good to see everyone.  It was a short visit though; it went by too fast! 

Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of our visit with Jason's family up yet, but I do have a few from visiting Justine's brothers!  Justine's eldest brother Drew graduated with his master's degree in marriage and family therapy!  We were able to attend the cermony which was very special!  Here we are with our one-year-old nephew, Sam!!!  He is a lot of fun!

In Ventura, visiting Jason's family, we were there for Jason's sister Leanna's birthday party.  It was a good week, and we're happy to be home in SF but sad at the same time!

This June we're involved in a variety of things.  Jason is still managing the kitchen, but it will be his LAST MONTH to do this!  It's not been a bad experience, but he's excited to have more time to pursue other things at work.  

Every summer at our YWAM base, we have lots of high school youth groups come for short-term missions trips.  The two of us will be presenting a campaign to the youth all summer long.  Each time will get to see a educational presentation on refugees, specifically Burmese refugees.  We will share the story of the couple we've been teaching English to, as well as the general plight of Burmese refugees.  We also have designed and printed t-shirts to sell, to support our ministry as well as another ministry that is involved directly with refugees in Burma.  Pray for us that this summer goes well, that the kids feel a deep connection with the issue and are even able to be more sensitive to immigrants and refugees in their schools at home!  Pray for the funds that we are trying to raise with the t-shirts to come in steadily! 

We have exciting news!  The Burmese couple that we've been teaching English to since February are EMPLOYED!  Thank you so much for praying for these two.  Pray that their job situation remains strong and that they are able to increase their English skills in the workplace and keep moving forward in their transition to living in the U.S.

That's all for now!  I'll try to post some pictures from our stay in Ventura soon.  

Spring is here!

We can't believe we are finding ourselves in the middle of April already! Easter this year was very special for us. We were able to celebrate a beautiful Passover meal with friends and we spent Easter Sunday at a morning service and then lunch with Justine's sister and her husband. It was such a meaningful time to reflect and let the reality of God's love sink in deep.

We've been busy at work. We are still taking a class at the local city college on the history of American immigrants! We just have a few weeks left until the semester is over. We've learned so much from the class, and I think our hearts for the immigrants in our area have definitely grown.

We are also still tutoring a Burmese couple in the English language. They are making some wonderful progress! Please keep the sweet family in prayer, as they are trying to improve their job situation. It is so difficult to find a job, despite their good work experience in Burma because of their lack of English! So pray that we are able to continue moving them forward on that. The wife has been in and out of a very low paying cashier's job at a grocery store (something like $8 an hour!? to provide for a family in this area is impossible) and the husband is even more limited in English and is constantly seeking out jobs that will hire him. They have a very sweet 11 year old girl who is doing well in school and learning English! It is so much easier for children to adjust than adults. They are such a great family and we know that God will open the right doors for them.

We've also been teaching English at a local immigrant senior center. Earlier this month we hosted a little barbecue in their backyard! It was so special to see them come out and enjoy the liveliness of young people, play ping pong, dance, listen to music, play bingo, and paint beautiful pictures out in the April sunshine!

Thank you for praying for us and keeping up with our stories. Next month we will be visiting our family in Southern California and in July we will be visiting our family in Oklahoma! The times to see family are also so important. It will be the summer before we know it!

Keeping busy...

Wow, February has been a busy month for us! We are completely settled into our lovely apartment, as you saw in the last post. We're busy with our college class, teaching English, food pantry, and other activities! We are learning so much about American immigrants in history! It's incredible to be able to look at all that people like our great grandparents experienced and what immigrants and refugees experience today! It's great to be learning the history and connecting with our immigrant friends at the same time, and see it not only in text books but in people and relationships. Between education and relationships and seeking God's heart in the matter, we both are really excited about the ideas and vision he's giving us regarding immigrants and refugees!
This month we began to teach English to the elderly in our neighborhood. There is a senior housing center near us, and many of their residents come to our weekly food pantry (free groceries!). They have told us how much they enjoy coming, how our "SMILES" make them want to keep coming back. The food pantry has provided us such an awesome connection with this senior center, that one of the managers there has invited us to come and teach English to the seniors twice a month! We began this month, and we had a group of 8 Chinese students. The eldest senior, 100 years this September, was with us. We found out from his friend that he was a high school teacher back in China. It's pretty obvious that he's a smart man, as he was picking up on the English language skills quickly! Our hope is obviously not only to encourage the seniors in their English skills, but to continue down the road of relationship, speak value and importance into their lives and share God's love. Later this spring, we are going to host a barbecue for the residents as another chance to get to know them better. Pray for these sweet people, most of them are Chinese and Russian immigrants. God has a lot of love that He is wanting to show them!
Jason and I are also connecting with a refugee service provider in the area and we will begin this week to tutor a refugee married couple from Burma (aka Myanmar) in English. We will be able provide lessons in their home on their schedule! We've only heard stories, as I'm sure you have, of what the Burmese refugees have gone through, so I'm sure we'll be hearing more of that from them soon. Please be praying for our relationships with them, that it will not only be a great way to develop our Teaching skills, but that we will create a blessed friendship with this couple!
Please also keep in prayer our long-term vision, and how Jason and I can keep piecing together all that God is saying, and all that we are learning and experiencing in this season.
Feel free to check out our organization's website to find out more about what we're doing, because the things I'm talking about on this blog are just specific things that Jason and I are currently involved in. (Our organization, http://www.ywamsanfrancisco.org/ ; Jason and my specific branch that we work with, http://www.becausejusticematters.org/ )
Thanks to everyone for the prayers!

The new apartment!

Finally, the long awaited photos of us in our new home! Tonight we are going to be attending a training session to prepare us for the ESL classes with refugees! Pray for us that it will become an amazing way to connect with refugees and their families and help them as they transition! In other news, Justine is taking a short weekend trip to Salem, Oregon, to attend a YWAM meetup...it will be made up of YWAM staff around the country who are involved in the issue of human trafficking. We're really looking forward to connecting with others who are working on the same things that we've been working on, and building a network together. Jason has been most weeks playing volleyball with a group of young Nepali guys! He has such a gift in friendship and it's been great to see him make connections in that setting.
Enjoy the pics and captions below! Thank you to EVERYONE for praying for us to find this place, we are loving having a space of our own!

We live in a cozy studio, so we've put up a lovely bookshelf/room divider and created our "living room"

Here Justine is creating HOMEMADE pizza! (homemade dough as well)

Our walk-in closet that we couldn't live without!

Jason fries home-made tortilla chips as we make our first meal together in the apartment...

Our favorite feature of the apartment, is the full size kitchen! For the last two 1/2 years we've been living with a mini-fridge, tiny spaced kitchen...as you see here, we actually have cabinets, counter top, full fridge, and a space for table and chairs!

Here we are, move-in day, building our bed!

Moving in will make you sleepy.

Nepali Christmas

Hello everyone...it's hard to believe we're already in January of 2009! We are officially in our NEW home! A beautiful cozy studio apartment in the lower Nob Hill neighborhood of SF. It's nice because we're just a 10 minute walk to and from work, near lots of shops and restaurants...our apartment is in a building built in 1915, and it is kept in wonderful shape! We have cute little built in cabinets and wainscotting (I believe that's the spelling?) on our kitchen walls. We're slowly unpacking, settling, and furnishing our new place. I'll get pictures up of it as soon as possible!

We were very business all throughout the month of December! We were busy looking for an apartment, getting ready to go to Oklahoma to visit Justine's family for Christmas, and busy at work! One of the highlights of December for us was the Christmas party that we helped throw for the Nepali community. Partnering with another couple that is in the city with a heart for the people of Nepal, our party consisted of delicious Nepali food, games, donated items for families to take home, and Christmas songs and the Christmas story shared in the Nepali language! It was wonderful to connect with this community, as there are about 5,000 Nepalis settled in the Bay Area. They are lovely people and we look forward to continuing to build relationships with them. Jason has also started playing volleyball on Tuesday mornings with a group of young Nepali men every week.

Here are some photos of the Nepali Christmas party! One lady in particular, her name is Gita, has been also volunteering with us on our weekly food pantry. Justine and a few other women at the YWAM base have been befriending her. She works as a nanny in the city and helps to support her two grown daughters. Please be praying for Gita, that our friendship with her would be an encouragement to her and that she would know God's love for her and her family.

Please be praying for us as we continue to settle into our new home! Pray that our finances will remain stable. We are both taking a few college classes this semester, which is exciting! Justine is taking a class on Photoshop, so that she can help out with the ministry and their advertising, fundraising, etc. The other class we are both taking and it's US History of Immigrants.

Thanks for listening! Pictures of the apartment will be up soon. Hope you all had a great Christmas and New Years. We had a wonderful time with Justine's family!