Hey friend

Wow we just had an eventful week here in San Francisco. We had some great times of encouragement and prayer with one of the guys we help at the coffee shop. Praise God. Then last Friday we had the YWAM Community night which was an amazing time with over 100 people. The message was how to fight violence in the hood and bring true hope to the Kids there. Watch it on Markus and Jen News TV and be challenged. Last Saturday we got invited to the Fundraiser for the boys and girls club. Jen and I had a wonderful time with great people, food and dancing. It was encouraging to hear how God is changing lives through the work that is done in the Club. Keep us in your prayers while we do work with the kids in the club. On this link you find some pictures from that event. Oh and we also send out our most recent newsletter last week. Make sure to sign up here to always get the newest one!!

This week Bethany is joining us again on Staff in North beach which is exciting and we also have a girl from Germany join us for a 5 month internship which will be partially in North Beach. Yeah. Please pray for both of them to transition in well.

He wants alone time with you

We are only a short time away from Easter. One thing that always makes me think in that time is the fact that in the week before Jesus got crucified all the people celebrated Jesus and a week after the same people screamed out of their lungs crucify him. One thing that really struck me with that is the fact of relationship. Those people obviously didn’t truly know who Jesus is and what he is about, or they would have never turned on him. But how could they? They didn’t have a true relationship with him. They only knew what he was saying but didn’t truly know him.

If you think about a relationship between a husband and a wife you notice something as well: For them to grow closer together and fall more in love with each other they need times alone with each other. If they would always spend all their time with other people and not invest in each other they would eventually notice that there relationship isn’t as strong as it used to be.

Now translate that to your relationship with God. We need the same thing with him. It’s important to have the corporate times with him and others, but he also longs for the one and one times with us. Some things that are really important for those times are that you put your full attention into that time. That means no phone calls, texts, Facebook updates or any other distraction that takes away from that time. You would not like those things either when you are on a date with your husband or wife and they also hinder from truly getting to know someone. Then just spent regularly some quality time in Prayer with Him and also studying His word.  Set a time aside on a daily base that is your Jesus time. You will see that over time you will become closer and closer with Him. You know it might be awkward at the beginning and you might not know how to fill your time, but after a while you will notice that you don’t have enough time. Also In the example of Jesus we can see that we can’t afford not to have a close relationship with Him. What if the whole world turns against you, what do you hold on to? We want to encourage you to spend alone time with Him to really grow closer.

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen

Hey our friend

We hope you had a wonderful week. Every day God gives us something to be thankful for, and that is where we need to put our focus on. Last week we were able to connect with some new people in the community through a neighborhood meeting. God keeps opening up new ways into the lives of people. Our normal weekly meetings went really well too and we were able to spread more hope in that community. Pray that God shows us more and more ways on how to move forward with the ministry as well as providing more fulltime staff.

Be always ready

Last Saturday Jen and I went on a date to Walnut Creek. We planned to spend some time in that beautiful town. On the way there a lady on the train started talking to us about her life and started sharing about how she got clean and how she slowly started connecting with a church. During the ride we were able to speak hope into her life and at the end of the ride I was able to pray for her. It seemed that during her whole life she had only bad experiences with man and when I prayed for her she was really touched by a man not using her but really caringly praying for her. When I finished praying another couple that sat across said that they totally want to agree with the prayers. We found out later that they just came back from a mission trip in Thailand and seeing us ministering to the lady really helped them to transition back in after being in a mainly Buddhist country. After that conversation we met another guy and offered him to pray for him, which he declined with saying I’m not religious. But we were able to encourage him to learn more about Jesus. That all happened in about 40 min and none of it was planned, all we did was being available to what God wanted to do. If you look at the ministry Jesus did, you will notice that he had many unplanned ministry opportunities like the lady at the well, the blind man etc. All he did was being available to be used by His father to do a miracle.

Now we need to ask ourselves the question. Are we available when God opens up an opportunity? What holds us back not to step into that opportunity? Ponder a bit on those questions and then go for the opportunities God gives you.

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen

Hey our friend

We hope you had a wonderful week. We saw God coming through in many ways. Over the last week we saw more and more parts of the vision of End Loneliness coming true. Our God is awesome. Jen led an aerobic class together with the DTS at the Italian community center, and through the prayer walks in the last week we saw more of God coming through in the neighborhood. Praise God.

What are your wrong believes?

Todays blog is inspired by Steve Backlund who was speaking at church last Saturday. He shared on the topic of wrong believes. Our actions and the way we live our life is controlled by what we believe. As an example if we approach life like this: “Its hopeless”. If we have that believe we will look at things with a way more negative and not hope bringing attitude. But if you look at the bible and the different situations people went through, you realize that its not that hopeless: Abraham got a son in really old age (Genesis 17-21). Joseph was hated by his brothers and almost got killed but became a ruler over Egypt (Genesis 37-41),Moses stood in front of the ocean with enemies behind him and the crowd he was leading, so God just spilt the water. The disciples were afraid to get killed by the Christian hater Saul. God just turned his heart and he became the greatest apostle in the bible (Acts). Lazarus came to life after being dead  for 4 days (John 11).
But now after you addressed the lie just laugh out loud at it, because it is so ridiculous. And then take action steps. If you feel hopeless ask the holy spirit to show you the lies you believe in that area. Start cutting those lies out of your life. Start believing that there is hope for your life. And then start declaring that over yourself on a daily base. I recommend reading Steves book Lets just laugh at that.

So now if you think about that one lie, you notice that there are many lies like this one or similar ones in our believe system. Its important to bring those lies to the light and laugh at how ridiculous they are. And then start looking at the truth and the things God is saying. Then proclaim the truth over yourself.  Ask God this week what lies you believe and find truth. And the truth will set you free John 8:32

Have a blessed week.

Markus and Jen

Hey friend

We hope your last week was great. Our students from the fall school graduated and are moving into the new things God has for them. Its always so exciting to hear how God is using young people to change and impact this world. We also had 2 good friends from Iowa here for a visit. It was a wonderful time. During the week we were also meeting with different people in the neighborhood as well we started to connect with a neighborhood association which is exciting since we prayed for that to happen a week before. Praise God.

Heaven is more real than you think or believe

I want to share a story of hope with you that will hopefully encourage and challenge you. It actually just happened a few month ago. Jens grandpa, a wonderful loving old amish man, was close to dying. He was a man that was loved by everyone and people said about him that in his presence they felt loved. He was always humbled and had a huge love for Jesus. I would say a man after Gods heart. During his time of dying he was sharing about 2 heaven experiences he had. In one he saw many happy children and his son (Jen’s dad who passed away 14 years ago), who he didn’t recognize because of how young he looked. He also saw his wife. Another thing that happened was an encouragement to a hospice lady that was with him. He told her about a child that he saw in heaven and that she was ok. The lady was crying but also got really encouraged, her child died 5 month before that. After that experience he said that the food here was moldy and the water tastes bad. Shortly after that he died. His last days on earth he used to encourage and bring hope. A few weeks after that a not related person shared with me about a person in there life and how they experienced something similar and they also saw children.

Now you can put this down and say that it was a fantasy, or you can try to explain it in a medical way. But i believe that God brought him back for a short time to encourage us in our faith, to stop and think about what life really is about. Is it about success, money, power, ministry, doing good things or family etc.? Or is it about getting into a deeper relationship with Jesus and to learn more about his plan for our life and also get ready for the time in eternity. I think both of the reasons will coexist, but our main priority should always be our relationship with Jesus and after that all other things can come. Let this be a wakeup call for all of us to think about what has priority in our life.

You might read this blog and never had a personal relationship with Him. If you want to have a personal relationship with him just ask him into your life through this simple prayer.

“Father, I know that I have broken your laws and my sins have separated me from you. I am truly sorry, and now I want to turn away from my past sinful life toward you. Please forgive me, and help me avoid sinning again. I believe that your son, Jesus Christ died for my sins, was resurrected from the dead, is alive, and hears my prayer. I invite Jesus to become the Lord of my life, to rule and reign in my heart from this day forward. Please send your Holy Spirit to help me obey You, and to do Your will for the rest of my life. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

After you did that get connected with a church, small group in your area so you can learn more about what it means to live our lives with and for Jesus.  Under this link you can get more info about everything.

Have a blessed week and know that you are loved

Markus and Jen

P.s. San Francisco, besides Manhattan, is the most expensive city in the nation to live in. However, we believe God has called us to be missionaries in the urban world. We found a few more monthly supporters in the last months, but currently we are still in need of $3,000 more a month to cover life and ministry costs. We’d like to offer you an opportunity to join us in engaging a city with a loving God.

This is what we are looking for

5 people that commit to give $200 a month
10 people that commit to give $100 a month
10 people that commit to give $50 a month
20 people that commit to give $25 a month
20 people that commit to give $10 a month

Or you can support us with any amount you would like. This could be monthly or as a onetime gift. Anything helps. Under this link you can find all the info on how to support us.

Thank you for partnering with us through your giving!

Hey friend

We hope you had a great week. Ours was really good but in the same way super busy. We had a ministry evaluation meeting, which was really encouraging. Then we had our normal events going on which ended up being wonderful.  We also had some wonderful friends here to visit us. It was a great time. Stand with us in Prayer this week that more people in the neighborhood see more of Gods loving and healing character.

Jesus heals the brokenhearted

This morning I looked at a big picture of a broken heart at the YWAM Base. In big letters it said “Jesus heals the brokenhearted”. Think about Valentine’s Day and how much our focus on that day is to show our wife, girl or boyfriend or just people in our life how much we care about them. I see that day a focus change of taking our eyes of ourselves and instead putting our focus on others. We have to do the same thing with Jesus. When we take our eyes of off our issues and problems and totally focus on Jesus it will change the perspective we have about the situation. I’m not saying ignore your issues, but bring them to the one who can actually heal or help with them. If you would have a heart attack, would you go to your computer and Google about how you can cut open your heart and take out the blocking? No, you would automatically call a doctor to help you. But how many times do you do that with Jesus? How many times do you look at him to find answers or healing? How often are we trying to figure it out ourselves instead of asking Him for help? He wants to bring healing and the answers, but we have to let him. And we can do that by taking our eyes off the issue or the circumstance and look at Him and trust that he knows best and that He has the perfect solution. It makes us dependent on him, but let me tell you, depending on Him is a healthy dependence.

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen