Jessie Knows Jesus!

Do you remember me mentioning the student that "dropped in Kim's lap" early this fall? They have been meeting consistently since September, and now Jessie knows Jesus! This is the second salvation in less than a year and that's amazing considering how dark and hopeless Utah is.

Jessie's new roommate and childhood friend, Evelyn, has also started meeting with Kim, so pray for her as well! 
Kim wrote:
In September, I wrote an article titled "The Fruit God Dropped in My Lap: immediate answer to prayer" where I explained that I had prayed something like: "LORD God, I just need you to drop someone in my lap this week. I know you can do that, so I am asking you to bring me someone to talk to about You!" Monday, right after lunch, I received the following text: "Hey Kim. This is Jessie, Ari's roommate. I was wondering if it would be ok to ask you questions about the Bible." I thought, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! A resounding, "YES!" God had literally dropped fruit right into my lap as I had asked him for just the night before.

Jessie was raised staunch LDS and was roommates with Ari when she got saved last spring. After Ari shared her newfound faith with Jessie, she decided to attend Ari's baptism (I wrote about Ari's salvation at Easter last year and also about her baptism in July). So, Jessie had already begun the process of leaving Mormonism when we began our weekly meetings. As soon as we started our Bible study together, she started attending the TGM InterVarsity weekly Bible study and often stayed after to ask Marcus & Julia (the TGM Student Ministry Directors) questions. Jessie was on a pursuit to know Jesus!

Right after Christmas break when Jessie and I met up, she told me that she wanted to come to Ephraim Church of the Bible (ECB) with me the following Sunday. She said that the first time she came to ECB for Ari's baptism the worship service was overwhelming and confusing to her, but that now she thought she had more understanding and felt like it was time to go back. During the first worship song, Christ be Magnified, she began tearing up. And, during the second worship song, Man of Sorrows, Jessie was born-again! Shane was on one side of her, and I was on the other. Both of us felt the Spirit of God moving, so as soon as the service was over, I felt led to re-explain to Jessie what it meant to be born-again and how to surrender her life to Christ. She started to cry and said, "I think I was already born-again during the second song!" After, talking through it all with her, she was showered with hugs and welcomes from the body of believers at ECB!

Thanks to all of you who prayed for Jessie's salvation. Your prayers have been answered! She knows you have been praying for her, and she is overwhelmed by your love for someone who you do not even know. Now she is already sharing Jesus with her friends, Evelyn and Nikole! We ask that you pray with us for their salvation, too. Jessie is waiting to tell her family when she goes back home later in the semester. Please pray for her as she is already experiencing spiritual warfare through some depression episodes. Pray for God to firm her faith and help her to KNOW HIM more intimately.

It's been a busy couple of months for us! Matthew spent most of Christmas break tearing out the 20-year-old carpet in one of the cafe dining rooms, and replacing it with a distressed hickory hardwood. It was a project that had needed to be done for a couple of years, and it turned out gorgeous. The flooring Matthew and Shane picked out looks perfect with the late 19th-century-house style, and quite a few people have asked if it was the original flooring!

Ephraim Co-op has done a nativity display in early December for many years - people in the community bring their special nativities to display for a weekend, and it was really cool to see the different ones people had collected from around the world. In the past, because the LDS church people were in charge, the Christian community might attend, but had never participated in the display - we have to be very intentional to make it clear that we are not "all the same." A few years ago, they asked Ephraim Church of the Bible to become the official sponsor, which they were willing to do, if they could include a statement of what Christians believe about the birth of Jesus. Every item on the Christmas story canvas (pictured) is the biblical account and a point on which the LDS church's teachings differentiates from the Bible.

One of the things that our church team incorporated over the past few years was live background music for a good portion of the event! Amelie and I put together a beginner duet of "Silent Night," and I dusted off my music books to work up a set to help fill the rest of my 30-minute block. It was fun to play again, since I hadn't in so long, and I enjoyed being able to use that long-neglected gift!

And then there's the minor things, like getting used to Utah winters: continuing to function like normal when the temperature is in the single digits, snow blowing and plowing, and driving in the snow! This year has apparently been a lot more snow than has been normal in recent years, which is awesome, because we've had several years of drought lately. 

Le Tourneau Go Week

In late January, Matthew and Jordan spent a week in Texas at LeTourneau University during their "Go Week" missions conference. Tri-Grace has a long-time relationship with LeTu - Jordan and Kjelse both went to college there, they send a mission team almost every spring break, and we've had a lot of interns come from there as well. Matthew and Jordan spent the week recruiting students to come on the mission team, talking about what ministry looks like here at Tri-Grace and in Utah, and, on Saturday, training the students who are coming on the Utah mission trip in March. Even though LeTourneau is a Christian university, it's a well-known engineering school, and they have a lot of students come from other faiths as well... so they even had a few gospel conversations. They said they have about 25 students signed up for the mission trip, so we'll have a good crew here!

Matthew and Jordan stayed with a couple of different friends during the course of their trip, and it was a good encouragement to be with them and visit their churches.

In the meantime, with a good bit of help from Kim, Kelly made it through her first January batch of year-end tax filings, donor reports, staff reports, and her second batch of quarterly board reports, with only a few hiccups. February is a calmer finance month and she's looking forward to her office hours not being quite so packed.

Matthew, Amelie, and Grace went to the Revive! Utah youth retreat last weekend. The youth pastor and his wife couldn't make it this year, so Matthew and Maris (Shane and Kim's daughter) took our church's crew of about 25 middle and high schoolers. 170 kids came from Nevada all the way to Idaho, and it was a good weekend for the young believers of Utah to spend time together. It is hard for the Christian middle and high school students here; while they do get to know Mormon kids, they are definite "outsiders" in their communities. 

If you remember "Lucas," who I mentioned a few months ago, he and his family have started attending Ephraim Church of the Bible! They live about an hour's drive away, so it's quite the commitment for them to come, but we're glad to have them and have been enjoying getting to know them. His mom and I (Kelly) have connected a little bit and I'm looking forward to learning more of their story - she mentioned an LDS background but we haven't gotten into much beyond that. Continue to pray for them, that their faith will grow in the true Jesus.

The cafe espresso machine needed a tune-up a couple of weeks ago, and Matthew stuck around after his shift to find out first-hand what the problems were, and be available to help/ask questions.

Gabe, the cafe's espresso repairman, mentioned that when he isn't fixing espresso machines, he works as a stunt guy. Matthew said... "wait, you look kind of familiar" and he said "yeah...so do you..." and it turns out Gabe was the stunt man from the movie Matthew worked on in November! They hadn't interacted in close contact much on set, and they were bundled against the cold or in stunt safety gear when they did, so it took them a bit to recognize each other. Shane shared a little bit about the ministry and about the gospel with Gabe, so pray those seeds take root... and of course we don't want you to pray that our espresso machine has any problems... but more opportunities to build a relationship with Gabe would be great too, so... do with that what you will, I guess?

Big Changes Coming Up

Our current Evangelism Directors, Jordan and Kjelse, and their kids, are moving back to Wisconsin this summer. They have been here with Tri-Grace for 9 years and we will all miss them terribly! Our kids and the Rittmeyer kids have become fast buddies, so it will be hard on them all. God has directed their family clearly that they need to make this change, and we are all supportive of their move, even if our hearts are breaking to lose them!

Since Jordan and Kjelse announced that God was leading them back to WI, we have all been praying for someone who can fill that role. As our Evangelism Director, Jordan helps train our interns, leads outreaches, and helps plan ministry events - his being gone will leave a big hole. After a whirlwind week in January visiting and interviewing, God has been faithful to provide Mark and Kim Searles, who are currently in deputation, to fill that role. Jordan has been working to prep them as much as he can. Pray for them as they raise support and prepare to move - it's a hard and challenging time.

Praise God for His Provision

Thank you for being a huge part of our ministry here through your prayers and your financial support. God moved in such big ways to build our support team to get us here so quickly, and we are so grateful to all of you for how you have allowed Him to use your resources. It is such a gift to see your names every month!

Please Be in Prayer

- The woman from the Netherlands came in as we were closing a couple of Fridays ago. She said she is heading back to the Netherlands for the next few months, but may be back next fall - pray that the seeds that have been planted in her heart will grow and that she does come back next year!
- Pray for K, the LDS student who had made a profession of Christ, but who had a major family tragedy last summer. She's come into the cafe less often than usual, and is now engaged (not familiar enough with the young man to know his background). Her roots are in very rocky ground.
- Pray for Lucas and his family to solidify in their faith in the true Jesus.
- Pray for Jessie to grow in her new faith, and for her childhood friends Evelyn and Nikole to come to know the Lord as well!
- We haven't been able to get together with the Castles yet - pray for work, weather, and sickness schedules to line up so we can get together!

Love and miss you all!
Matthew, Kelly, Amelie, Grace, Hope, and Molly
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