True Community

Community in the Church does not begin with people. Unity with God on a personal level does not begin with community amongst men. We often seek a remedy for loneliness in other people. However, community that begins with man is selfish and is in fact not community at all. We cannot understand fellowship in the church or Christ's desire for his bride to develop unity unless we are right with God in a personal sense. The highest form of communion is absolute surrender of the self to God, to be "One" with the Father as Christ was in the flesh. When we are connected to God on a personal level then we are able to truly love people with the same love God has for us. The pursuit of community and fellowship has the potential for adultery. Do we as believers seek satisfaction for loneliness through man before God? If so, our loneliness will only increase, whether consciously or subconsciously. God is anxious in wait to satisfy our desperate need for love and companionship. Do not trade a relationship with God for man. Rather, let us foster an intimate love for our Savior so that we may have sincere love for others.

Update Update Update

It has been a crazy few weeks here in Tahoe! We recently moved houses! The Gouldings, who graciously allowed us to stay in their home, have left Truckee for the season. So we prayed for a new place to live, and the day before the Gouldings left, a brother from church offered his house for us to stay in. We now live with our buddy Paul and everything is going great here. We have been fortunate enough to have many visitors fly in to spend time with us. Friends from Moody, Georgia, Arizona, and Michigan have come join in the ministry and encourage their brothers. We miss them all dearly! In the past few weeks we have gone surfing, held our weekly wax nights, and worked intentionally at our jobs. God is still moving here in Tahoe! Many of us feel lead to stay here for the summer and continue doing our best to further His kingdom. Our last wax night was last night, but we will continue working with Snowboarders for Christ through early April in other forms. The Snowboarders for Christ crew from Colorado came out earlier this week. We met the founders of the organization, snowboarded with them, and had a great time enjoying the fellowship of brothers. They are a great group of guys who love the Lord with all their hearts. They snowboard for His glory instead of their own, and that stands out on the hill!
As we look forward to the last few weeks of the snowboard season, and for some us, our time in Tahoe, we want to make the most of every minute we have. We need prayer! Please be praying that we will be effective in representing Christ every where we go. Every conversation counts! We also need guidance for the summer. Some of us are still unsure as to where God wants us living, working, and ministering. Pray for guidance, and thank God that He always provides for our necessities.
Looking back at the time we have spent here, it is incredible to see what the Lord has done! Andrea accepted the Lord, and her heart is on fire, and so hungry to know the Savior more. She, along with the rest of us, has grown a lot this season. We thank God for how the Body has been able to encourage one another in Truckee. We also thank God for our opportunities to serve in various places with lots of different people. God is so great, and His grace is unfathomable.
Thank you all so much for reading this, and your prayers have truly had a great impact. Keep it up brothers and sisters!
Your fellow soldiers,
The T4 guys

T4 Teams with Project Snow

Skipping church is usually frowned upon, but last Sunday we felt the Lord wanting us to do something a little different with His day. A friend through Snowboarders For Christ told us about a snowboarding program for foster children in the Reno area. It is called Project Snow. The organization has been donated snowboarding equipment from many companies such as Forever Board Shop in Kansas City, 32, Clif Bar, Standard Films, and private donars. They fit the kids with gear and then take them up to Mt. Rose to learn the sport of snowboarding. The mission of Project Snow is to target the unhealthiness of kids today. At the mountain the children are taught proper eating habits, stretching, and the benefits of staying active through sports like snowboarding. T4 volunteered to spend the day with these kids and love them like Jesus does. While many of the children had seen great pain in their short lives, they were the greatest! And they can shred!!! God says when we serve the people He created, we are serving Him. Please be praying for the beautiful children in the picture above. They need the Lord, as we all do. We thank God for a chance to love these children!
For more information on Project Snow, check out this link. http://www.projectsnow.org/
All for His glory,
- The Guys at T4

A letter from Jonny

Greetings, Church, I hope that this letter finds you well, pressing on towards the prize (phil 3:14).

It's been over two months since I and the team assembled here in Truckee, CA. Our partnership with the local church, Sierra Bible, has been a tremendous blessing. They've been so good to us. We were kindly placed in the home of some hospitable members of the church and have been invited to so many meals. It's been a blast meeting with the college group on mondays, awana on tusedays, youth group on wednesdays, and snowboard outreach on thursdays.

Our group is split into two teams, one working at Soda Springs and one at Tahoe Donner, both ski resorts. We work 3/4 days a week 8am-4pm. We've got a ton of co-workers from South Africa, Argentina, and Chile. As our days go by we've been looking for chances to talk to them about Jesus, ask them questions about their lives, and invite them to an event or outreach. On our days off, we go to the big ski resort and snowboard. While there, we've met with friends and made new ones. Because of the common experiences on the mountain, we've got a ton to talk about and get excited over.

Shortly after arriving here in Truckee we met Andrea. She worked with us and didn't have much going for her. She was living in her truck and just barely getting by. One of the guys on the team gave her $100 for her personal needs and she was amazed. We had alot more to show her though. over the next 2 weeks we invited her to college group and over to our house for meals. She saw Christ in us and was called to be a daughter of God. It was a pleasant encouragement to me to remember that if people can see a decent picture of Christ (and the Spirit moves) they'll be broken and want in on this Christ following thing that we do.

Living with 5 dudes is fun. It's also really testing. Team conflict and dynamics have played a huge part in our time here. I wrestled through arguments and finances, and when I was at the end of my rope I turned to Jesse, the youth pastor and the main contact of the local church. His calm guidance pointed out that I should be careful not to look at just numbers, situations, and logistics but that I should focus on the spiritual world that we live in. He encourged me to stop brooding over event details and start with praying the event. Instead of just hanging out with people after church service, take measures to listen to their hearts and petition the Lord for their needs. In place of just yelling good bye to teammates in the morning as they head off to work, pausing to pray and commission them to serve the Lord for that specific day. I know that a lot of you don't live with a big group of random Christians, so you may not have to deal with all the animosity and hurt and miscommunicaiton that comes up like it does here, but you can look at things spiritually if you want to make a real lasting difference.

Our time here has gone so quickly. I urge you to be intentional with every day. Be clear and focused on the goal of serving others and proclaiming Christ. That means that when you meet with Christians talk about the opportunity that is going to come up after watching that movie with an unbeliever. don't just have friends over to "hang out", make sure that Jesus is the main event. When you are at theater practice with a Christian sister, make sure you compete with each other to be more excellent in hopes that someone would ask why you work so hard....and then point straight to Christ. When you're closing a business deal or teaching a snowboarding lesson, affirm the glory of God has he has made this economy possible and this wonderful natural world. Make sure that every Christian with you knows that they have to be all in on it.

Pray that our co-workers would continue to come to the Lord. Pray that we would be loving towards one another and encourage one another to bold acts of faith. Pray that we'd find a place to stay for the next month (our current house parents are moving to Hawaii). Pray that we'd remain focused on Jesus.

Thank you so much for your prayers and financial support. Thanks for the text messages that encourage. Thanks for asking about us at church. We've got another month or so to go here, and it's going to be an all-out sprint as we run this race.

for His glory,

Jonny Wong

Steve's Update

Hey everyone, if you are reading this right now (as Jake has said) it truly does mean so much to us. Knowing that there are literally hundreds of people following us on this blog and praying for us is just mind blowing and truly exemplifies the power and unity that does exist in the body of Christ! It has been amazing to see how much the Lord has provided up to this point, and it will be amazing to rejoice together when we see how the Lord provides at the end of this week. Which for those of you who don't know... we have to move out of Florie and Jerry's house by this coming up Sunday, its Tuesday, 5 days. But the cool thing is that non of us are worrying whatsoever, for from what God has done so far- we KNOW that He will be faithful.

As for myself personally, i have grown sooooo much from the experience of living side-by-side with five other people in a small area for the past two months. The Lord has taught me so much in the areas of sacrifice, service, forgiveness, grace, selflessness, care, and love towards others and learning to always put others before yourself. When iron sharpens iron, sparks will fly! but the results are amazing. I thank the Lord everyday for the blessing of being here... (between you and me, the snowboarding is some of the best in America, God is good, sooooo good). But we only have a little over a month left, and if everyone could pray that we could focus hard and really strive at having a huge impact before we leave, that would be much appreciated. For we have set forth an amazing base of friendships from working and riding with people for months now, they have seen our actions and i pray they will listen, and we will have the strength and opportunities for our words to follow. Other than that, my friend Abby from Georgia will be coming from March 11-14. I am super stoked about her coming, and the days cannot seem to go by quick enough! It should be pretty entertaining having her see what true snow really looks like, and will be a blessing having her join the team for a few days in ministry.

Jake's Update

Hello family and friends!
This trip has meant a whole lot to me. In thinking about what God has done for me, about 100 things come to mind. The biggest thing I have learned so far is to be intentional with everything I do. Yeah yeah yeah we have all heard to do that before. But this concept has finally become real to me. I have also grown in appreciation for all the incredible people in my life. I have found that there are too many incredible people in too many incredible places for me to be with. I guess that is a good problem to have!

My older brother Kyle came out last week to Tahoe with his friend Scott. I had a blast riding with them at Squaw Valley. Tomorrow my wonderful girlfriend Jaci will arrive and we look forward to serving the Lord together here for a few days! I am still doing online classes and trying my best to keep up with those. As summer approaches I have been thinking and praying more and more about returning to Tucson. I can't wait to get back to my friends, parents, brothers, and my sister. After summer is Chicago again!
Thank you all for your prayers and for reading this. Knowing that you believe in this mission means so much to me and the guys. We would love to hear your words of encouragement and wisdom. All of you made this trip possible. God bless!
- Jake

A Goodbye From Brad

Hi, my name is Brad
I am leaving Tahoe early to go back to Roseville, CA. When I go back home I will be getting ready to go on another mission trip to Mexico. In Mexico I will be building houses for people who are homeless, also we will be giving out clothes to people who need it. The reason for going home early is to get plugged into my home church and help out with the youth group to raise the money needed before the trip. During my stay in Tahoe, i have grown so much spiritually. I hope I can show my friends at home how great God is by telling them about all the things we did here.

Thanks for all your prayers and support.