MUSTARD SEED MINISTRY NEWSLETTER, OCTOBER 2010
10/21/10 Dear friends & family,
Those with whom I've been in email contact for some time now. There comes a time when silence is golden. I will still be posting updates on the web (YouTube, posterous, scribd, etc), albeit perhaps less on YouTube in the future. I will not be corresponding directly by email anymore. My spiritual journey & mission continues (A-Bible, etc). I am proud of what I have accomplished & hope to continue to accomplish...whether the good Lord takes me tomorrow or 50 years from now.
I thank those of you who have been supportive of me by encouragement & prayer. God bless you. I know you will keep me in your prayers & you in mine. As I draw closer & closer to God in my journey it becomes more & more difficult to communicate directly, at least in a "believable" way, to those who are not on the same road. We are all in different stages of our faith journey & that makes a difference in terms of how we see, hear, & believe.
I have done my very best to give people a "physical" look into my life...as "proof" of who I am & what I do as I attend church services, pray, worship, attend events, travel, give away Audio Bibles, create videos, slideshows, go to court to fight unfair seatbelt citations, give homeless people a dollar here & there, do holiday specials (Christ-o-lantern, Christmas tree, Holy Spirit doves, etc). It is not possible to forever give physical, tangible proof of your existence & daily life . But even prior to the advent of making videos & Audio Bibles I was still doing good, excellent, honest things specifically for Christ and/or for the community, including education which also has tangible proof in the form of a transcript (Calvin College, Calvin Seminary, Chaminade Univ. Honolulu, Univ. Of Spain-Denia, Cal State Long Beach, St. Mary's Med Ctr (social work internship), UCLA Med Ctr (chaplain internship), Fuller Seminary, & more).
My journey for the sake of mission to other countries is also recorded in pics, slideshow vids, etc . This includes Costa Rica (x2) (earthquake, teaching, +return visit), Philippines (summer mission + return trip), Spain (educational), Thailand (tsunami), Netherlands (heritage), plus others (Belize, Guatemala, Peru, Bora Bora, etc)
& I've had a few setbacks, hardships, & persecution (things stolen, sabotage, physically assaulted, verbally abused, unappreciated or under-appreciated, etc,,,even as recently as this week I had a flash disc stolen with some travel vid segments: air shows, crusades, etc. But I keep bouncing back & hope for God's presence @ all times. & I know He is always here w/ me, but also that my current mission may some day change...& actually already is subtly shifting in new directions...
Again, I appreciate those of you who have encouraged me & know you are always thinking of me & wishing the best for me. That's all I need to know. The best way for you to keep supporting me is by going out & telling the good news yourself...that's discipleship.Even Jesus couldn't stay w. His disciples forever & I am nothing near to how great Jesus was, Himself, but I try my best to imitate Him in every way.
I may continue to write or give updates in the same way Paul wrote to the believers in various places: Thessalonica, Collosia, Galatia, et. Al.He couldn't be in all places @ all times either, so letters had to suffice.
I've don't my best & will continue to do my best & I encourage you to do likewise. God be with you & bless you at all times & places.....! Keep growing in Christ...trusting, believing, hoping ..
Yours Truly
Vander
