| True North STM Utah Update |
| {This is an update letter from one of our True North (our church’s high school youth group that my hubby & I serve with) students, Destiny Soto that we supported. Our annual “Revival” summer camp was cancelled but a group of students was still able to travel to Utah for their STM (short term missions) that they’d spent so much time preparing for PTL! So awesome to see a young person so excited about & invested in the things of the Lord!!} Dear Friends and Family, I want to take the time to say thank you for supporting our STM trip to Utah! God used your prayers for His glory! As a small token of my appreciation, I want to share with you some of what God used your support to accomplish. I am jittery as I type this out because He has been so kind and so faithful to us! My heart is happy and I am overjoyed. I wish I could share every detail of what happened; I see His good hand over all of it. I pray that this short overview, with a share of random details, is enough to make you rejoice with me and encourage your heart even a fraction as much as your support encouraged mine! (She then gave a detailed run-down of the weeks’ activities) As you can see, our week was packed to the brim with opportunities. If I had the time and the space, I could tell you so much more about each of those subpoints. However, if I may, I would love to share some of my takeaways from this week. Firstly, I have never felt my dependence as much as I did this week. In the first 24 hours alone, I accidentally overdosed myself on my anti-inflammatory meds, cracked my phone’s screen protector, and had a mild allergic reaction to sunscreen. We hardly had a schedule for the entire week; there was so much uncertainty. The only constant that we could depend on was God’s provision and sustaining grace. At the end of each day and each conversation, I looked back and saw that God had given me exactly what I needed – no more and no less. My only comfort and hope was that God is sovereign. We constantly reminded each other after our interactions with the LDS that no matter how good or bad we felt that conversation had gone, no word or syllable of it had been outside of His control. We reminded each other that God is more jealous for His glory than we are. We entrusted ourselves to Him. Secondly, I have a renewed passion for the lost that God has placed strategically around me. It was so much easier to believe God had strategically placed people in our paths in Utah simply because it seemed apparent, but the reality is that all the non-Christians in my life have been strategically placed there. Two of the missionaries we met were raised in Orange County and graduated from high school in 2019 – we have mutual friends, it is such a small world. It made things feel so personal, coming face-to-face with people who were once in arm’s reach. I was reminded of my need to be pursuing the non-Christians God has put in my life while I still have the opportunity to do so. Lastly, I was encouraged by the believers we interacted with in Utah. They are so strong, so passionate, and so joyful in the middle of such a dark place. We faced their kind of intense spiritual warfare for a week and were exhausted; they face that daily and are overflowing. Russ is the epitome of an ATAPAT servant – he always wanted to keep the conversation going with every person we came in contact with and was willing to do what it took to make that happen, even if it meant sacrificing his own time, comfort, or money. He was not just looking for opportunities to invite LDS to come back; he was actively making those opportunities. Pastor Larry with the Wasatch Cowboy Church has faced much persecution even in just opening a church, but his joy and his love for the lost people of Utah is abundant. He is so patient and longsuffering, willing to do whatever it takes to see people won to Christ. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you. Your prayers were the means God used to make this trip possible for me, and (as is my expectation) not only possible but fruitful and eternally impactful. With love, Destiny Soto |
Comments
Post a Comment