The California Trip!

You can see pictures below of some of the sights I was able to see in California. The trip was a lot more than that though! To me, here in the midwest, California is sort of a whole different planet! It was really cool to see what God is doing there and even what is happening in the Wesleyan Church, in northern California, at least. I shared at Antioch Wesleyan (in the outskirts of San Francisco), Riverside Wesleyan (Sacramento), a young adult group from Arcade Wesleyan (also, Sacramento) and Wesleyan Evangelical Church in Stockton, CA (south of Sacramento. I was also able to visit with some other pastors in the area and share with them about what is happening in Czech! Throughout the week, I was able to get a few new prayer and financial partners and I am looking forward to continuing these relationships.

A really, really exciting part of the trip, though, for me was seeing many people get excited about GOING to Czech! In so many instances, I feel like God brought me there to specifically share with certain people! The group of young adults I shared with had been looking for a place to minister overseas, but couldn't decide on one. After hearing about Czech, they were so excited to be part of the ministry there on short-term teams. Then, I was able to reconnect with Tomas, the guy who was actually my first connection to California churches. His picture is to the right. He is the youth pastor at Riverside Wesleyan and is also Czech. He was born and grew up in the Czech Republic and then moved to the states. It was so amazing and exciting to talk with him about ministry opportunities in Czech! (It was also nice to eat an authentic Czech meal with him and others from the church in Sacramento before I left!) I can't wait to see how God uses this relationship to bring more Czechs to a saving knowledge of Christ.

It was so clear, so often to me in California, that I was there for a reason. And, as is true each time I go to a new place, I was humbled again by the love and hospitality of people who would normally be strangers, but instead, we are family. The family of God. It's nice to know we've got family everywhere.