Monday, April 16, 2012

GHAP (God Has A Plan)

So, I've got a cool story from this past weekend that I'd love to share with you all. Some of you may have heard that I found a church pretty quickly here in Temecula, but you may have not heard how it happened, which is the cool part :)

So here it is:

  Obviously finding a church was a big thing on my "To-do list" once I got all moved in, so naturally I looked around a bit online and talked to some folks, but didn't exactly come to a conclusion.
Well, this past saturday I was riding my bicycle around the area and decided to look up a church before I headed out. It was close by so I figured I'd stop by to see if I could gather any more information from the office as I cruised over to check it out. Well, when I arrived the offices were locked, so I headed around back to see if I could find a main entrance.
  When I walked my bike back, I saw that the doors were opened and when I peeked inside I saw a sign that said "worship team auditions". I got pretty excited seeing as how I really wanted to get plugged into a church as soon as possible, and typically playing drums for a worship team is that "open door" for me. Well God literally gave me an open door and as I walked in to check it out I began talking with some people that were helping organize the time.
  Eventually I got around to mentioning that I played drums and was looking for a place to get plugged in. After talking with David, the worship leader, he decided to let me try out near the end (since I wasn't on the schedule and am a lefty).
  I waited around a bit and my turn finally came. They were all gracious enough to let me rearrange the drum kit and we played one song together (with a little jam afterwards). Immediately afterwards, I received approval from the current team members and got a little more insight into God's plan:
I was told that one of the main reasons for these "auditions" was to hopefully find another drummer. GHAP (God Has A Plan).

God has such an awesome way of arranging these things in quite funny ways sometimes! He's always seemed to have a musical theme in my life as well. In one way or another, musical opportunities have heavily directed the paths I've chosen to walk down. He knows us so much better than we know ourselves and loves to see us smile and return the praise to Him!

----

I just wanted to share more of the details of the story with you all, since it was so amazing to me!

Blessings,
-Matt

Here are a few more pictures:
 Love this poster at work; great reminder for us all, but especially for supporters!
Thank you for your prayers!

Welcome to GRN

The Cardtalk - A slightly older way of spreading the Word through audio

This is Quat (short for Kumquat), she's the resident kitty 

One of the most incredible places I've ever ridden my bike. This place is beautiful!

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

ARRIVAL and Other Updates and Prayer Requests!

The time has finally arrived: I am in Temecula, CA and I begin my work with Global Recordings Network tomorrow (April 12th)!

TRAVELS:
My Dad accompanied me on my drive down (which was a huge blessing) and is flying back to Portland, OR tonight (April 11th).

Thank you so much for your prayers! They were heard during the travels down south. Things went very smoothly for the most part. The only hang up (if you haven't already heard) were some brake troubles just south of San Francisco. The right, front brake began acting up, and once we got the car on a jack to check it out, the wheel had totally locked up. After some prayer, and a lot of waiting on the phone with the insurance company, a tow truck came out to help us out. Our insurance would cover the first $100, but it would be quite a bit more than that to get it towed where we needed to be. HOWEVER, God provided and as soon as we got the wheel back on, the brake let loose and we were able to drive down to Santa Cruz (our next stop) where we could find a shop on our own. The price of the tow company call-out was less than $100, so it was covered by insurance.

Anyway, that was a little blessing story during our travels. The rest of the blessing was just having safe and smooth travels the rest of the time, and a great time with family during the holidays.

OTHER UPDATES:

  • I'm pretty much all moved in to my new home here and have been enjoying my time getting to know my roommate and his fiancĂ©. 


  • My Dad and I took a brief tour of the office today and I'm really looking forward to beginning my training at work tomorrow. There is a lot of need in the U.S. office, and they've been praying for extra help in this department for a long time, so I'm very excited to be able to help out and serve the best I can.
  • We have a cat :)
  • I've found quite a few bicycling opportunities around town and am really looking forward to riding to work.
Prayer Requests:
  • That I would adjust and learn quickly with my work in the office, so that I will be most effective in serving with GRN.
  • The workers in the GRN offices around the world, that they would stay excited, motivated and encouraged by the work they are doing in order to tell all the nations about Jesus Christ.
  • Recordists and translators in various countries around the world, that they would stay safe, excited and encouraged as well.
  • My roommate Kevin and Ruth as they plan their wedding and travels up to Canada.

**That's all for now! God bless and thank you all for your support! More updates and pictures to come :)

-Matt



And now... PICTURES!
 Oregon Caves
 Oregon Caves - Icicles on cave entrance
 Made it past the border
 Clovers amongst the mighty redwoods
 Redwoods
 Golden Gate Bridge
 Lighthouse - name unknown
 Lighthouse
Paraglider off the coast

Friday, April 6, 2012

On the road!

Quick travel update:

The truck is rolling at a healthy pace as my dad and I make our way down to southern California. Currently we are in Cave Junction, getting ready to check out Oregon Caves this morning, and will head down through the Redwoods later this afternoon/evening.

Just as a quick reminder, the plan is to arrive in Temecula on April 10th, allowing five days of travel time. We'll stop in Santa Cruz for two nights (saturday and sunday nights) over the weekend to be with family on Easter and will then carry on the journey monday afternoon. We'll then camp one more night on monday and arrive in Temecula on tuesday evening (this gives my roommate a little more flexibility).

I'm very excited to begin serving once down south. I had a dream last night that they wouldn't let me in unless I had some written letter of acceptance to present at the time of an "entrance interview"...haha! Oh the worries of starting new work... :)

Blessings!

-Matt

p.s. pictures coming soon!