From Overlooked to A Wonderful Life

February 22, 2023 ~ jesusluvsall ~ 16 Comments

It has been almost fourteen years since I knocked on the door of her family. It was April 2009 and my father had just passed away. A few days after his funeral, I prayed about what to do with my free time after having so much tied up with end of life care for him. A brother and sister from Vietnam were in a beginning conversation class I taught at the time and I felt the Lord place them on my heart.

I went to their apartment and knocked on the door. They opened and gladly welcomed me in. The sister had her daughter come join us. Her daughter had just turned 20 and had been in ELL, English Language Learners, for almost one year. I invited the daughter and her cousin to join the weekend group I had at the time for Vietnamese youth.

She came, along with her cousin. She was shy at first. Her father and paternal grandparents basically abandoned her. Her mom and maternal grandmother loved her though. She had much to overcome in life when I met her.

She came to my Sunday morning group as well for about five years. She came to know Jesus and he went to work in her life as well. She blossomed from a shy young woman who was overlooked by everyone except her mom and grandmother to becoming a university student. She graduated and was accepted into a Master’s Program in Architecture. She is an Architect now, married, and has a baby boy,

Her story is compelling and a wonderful example of how Jesus changes lives. I have been blessed to see it time and time again. Jesus can take a broken life and create a beautiful life full of meaning.

With Jesus, there is no one who is overlooked, forgotten, unloved, or hopeless. Jesus loves us so much that he receives and welcomes us with open arms just the way we are. But he loves us too much to leave us the way we are when we come to him.

My friend from Vietnam and so many other friends from many cultures are shining examples of what Jesus can do with a life given to him.

Thank you for reading. God Bless.

Labor Day Weekend and Update on Books and Vehicle

September 4, 2022 ~ jesusluvsall ~ 8 Comments

Labor Day weekend is here. For my international readers, Labor Day is the first Monday in September in the USA. In our minds here, it represents the end of summer because it is our last three day weekend with warm weather. When I was a child, it was a sad day because it was the day the neighborhood swimming pool was drained and closed until the next summer.

One Labor Day stands out in my mind. Over a period of about seven years I mentored/tutored a group of young people from Vietnam. One year they were excited to invite me to a picnic/barbecue they were having in a park. Fortunately for them, I showed up. The reason I say fortunately is because they were grilling pork ribs. They took them off the grill too soon. The meat was not cooked thoroughly. I told them, “don’t eat them and put them back on the grill.” They asked why and I explained about what can happen if pork is not cooked properly.

My Labor Day this year is going to be spent online making sure I have all of the details about publishing my book on Amazon researched. Well unless I receive an invite to a picnic. 🙂 Now that my books are wrapping up, I have an idea for another one. So writing might commence tomorrow. My pastor is halfway through my draft of Jesus Understands Trauma. He told me he is “LOVING IT.”

Speaking of my book Jesus Understands Trauma, I chatted with a friend who is fluent in English and Spanish about translating my book into Spanish. She has agreed. After I publish it in English, we will work on the Spanish version.

I am blown away by the generosity of people donating for me to have a different vehicle. I will see my friend Doug this morning at church and talk with him about when to go look. As I sat at a bus stop yesterday, I took note of vehicles driving by. My one thought each time whether they would be easy to get in and out of. As someone living with Psoriatic Arthritis, that is a factor for me.

For my friends in the USA, I hope your Labor Day weekend is blessed and relaxing. For all of my readers, I hope you have a blessed Sunday.

Thank you for reading. God Bless.

The Origin of Mr. Matt

February 13, 2022 ~ jesusluvsall ~ 8 Comments

First I need to say that Mr. Matt is a title reserved for the children at my school or for teens from other countries I mentor. 🙂

I had a group of teens from Vietnam that I mentored from 2008 to 2015. In their culture, they are taught to show respect to the teacher by saying teacher. One day they asked me what they should call me and I told them they could call me teacher or Mr. Matt. After that every Saturday and Sunday afternoon when we met, I heard Mr. Matt several times.

Fast forward to interacting with children at the school where I teach in the mornings I introduce myself to the children as Mr. Matt because I know my last name would be difficult for them to pronounce especially for children in ELL, English Language Learners, Level 1. When children at school see me, they greet me with Hi, Mr. Matt. It gets my attention every time and I say a quick greeting to them.

One other aspect of the children calling me Mr. Matt is that it helps them to feel they can connect with me.

Have you ever noticed how it feels to say Jesus? The name Jesus makes God someone we feel we can connect with. Saying the name Jesus feels more personal that saying God at least for me it is. The name Jesus gives us access to God the Father.

This morning when I go to church, I will greet Jesus. 🙂

Thank you for reading. God Bless.

Perceptions Vary

October 2, 2021 ~ jesusluvsall ~ 21 Comments

The looks on their faces said it all that October morning many years ago. My young Vietnamese students were shocked to see how their teacher was dressed. It was a typical mid October morning where I live. It was 35F/1.6C but would warm up to 65f/18c in the afternoon.

My young friends were wearing coats and gloves. One even had a scarf and winter hat. They saw me walking in shorts and a sweatshirt. They could not believe their eyes. They were worried and asked, “teacher aren’t you cold?”

A similar scenario occurred in July 2015 in Brazil. When it is summer in the USA, it is ‘winter’ in Brazil. I found their winter to be quite comfortable and nothing like a Midwest USA winter. One afternoon I walked into the university I was teaching at wearing pants and a short sleeve shirt. It was a nice afternoon for me of 65f/18c. I walked past the office for the young women working in the media/internet department. They waved for me to come in the office. They were wearing coats. They asked me, “voce nao esta frio?” Aren’t you cold?

Perceptions vary. One person’s nice day is another person’s cold day.

Perception is why I need to spend time reading God’s word. At times my perception of my circumstances is that they are too difficult. I need the reminder that nothing is difficult for God. Then I can look to him in prayer to ask for help.

Do you like cool days? What would you think if on a morning of 35f/1.6c, you saw me walking outside wearing shorts and a sweatshirt?

Thank you for reading. God Bless.

A Funny Thing Happened on My Way to Becoming A Pastor- Part 8- 2 Sides of Me Interwoven

January 21, 2021January 21, 2021 ~ jesusluvsall ~ 21 Comments

This is the second to the last post in this series. Part 1 is A Decision and A Book. Part 2 is A Discover and Downfall Begins. Part 3 is The Valley of Death. Part 4 is Recovering and Remembering That Book. Part 5 is Romania. Part 6 is Many Cultures and Beginning to Teach English. Part 7 is Ministry Begins and Grows.

In 2007, I found out that my denomination was shifting focus from whole countries to cities in Europe. That meant Romania would not have the same focus as it did before. As I wrestled with what Jesus was calling me to do, I read a book by a Catholic woman from Rwanda, Let to Tell, sharing her experience of surviving the Rwandan genocide. As I read her book, I thought about the refugees I had encountered in my city and God gave me peace to stay in my home city and to continue my ministry and work.

Not long after that on a Saturday afternoon I went into a library and saw one of my former students from Vietnam in an ELL study room with three teenage boys. I asked what they were doing. She told me they were her cousins and she was trying to help them with some English before they started school in the fall. The three boys were new to America.

I offered to come the next day and be a native English speaker, but with the idea she would do the lesson. They quickly agreed with the idea. The next day I went to the library and found the boys were there waiting for me but she was not there. I quickly prayed in my spirit and Jesus let me know they were my students now.

Those lessons grew to over 20 young people from Vietnam with an average attendance of 14 to 15 for a while. We had to change to my church to have a room big enough. They were either high school students or had just aged out of high school without graduating but had a diploma from Vietnam. I helped them with English, ACT Test prep, TOEFL Test prep, scholarship applications and more. I got used to being called Mr. Matt.

Our group met in my church. When there were special events in my church such as a Christmas program, they came with me. My church helped me put on a Lunar New Year lunch for them and some friends from church participated in it.

When it was time for the first ones to go to New Student Enrollment at the university in my city, their parents lack of English caused them to not go and some had to work as well. My young Vietnamese friends asked me to go with them as their parent.

My experience with my young Vietnamese friends shifted my paradigm of thought from only focusing on teaching adults to wanting to find a way to help families. The thought that parents did not go with their children to something as important as New Student Enrollment due to language barriers really bothered me.

So when a program called Family Literacy began in my city, I jumped on the chance to teach one of the classes. Family Literacy is a program that empowers parents to help their children. The classes meet in the school where the children go and meets in the morning or afternoon while the children are in school. We connect the English the parents are learning with their child’s education.

Ministry and Education have seemed to be interwoven for me for years. When I reflect on it, I remember a puzzled counselor looking at the results of my personality test during career counseling years before my journey began. The results were 98% match for ministry, 97% match for teacher, and 97% match for Jet Fighter Pilot which was the one she couldn’t figure out. It makes sense to me. I love traveling to other countries, the excitement of meeting a people group new to my city no one knows much about, being in the classroom and sharing the love of Jesus.

Thank you for reading. God Bless.

Oh What A Sunday :)

October 6, 2020October 4, 2020 ~ jesusluvsall ~ 38 Comments

It finally happened. I finally went to church Sunday morning in person not online for the first time since March.

It was beautiful weather for me in the 40s with sunshine when I went and in the 50s with sunshine after. It was so wonderful to see people live in person not online. I spoke with some of the pastors and with others. What a huge boost!!!

After church, I met a friend for lunch. She is from Vietnam and came to my weekend groups before moving to Houston. She was back for a visit and wanted to have lunch with me. She bought the old guy some lunch.

As we were eating, a table some feet away, a family was having lunch. A beautiful family of all adopted children of various ethnicities. For some reason the children noticed me and we might have exchanged funny faces. Having felt so blessed the past several months by friends helping me during a down time, I walked over and asked the father if I could give him a little money to buy his kids ice cream after lunch. He accepted and I said- it’s from Jesus.

Such a Sunday was normal for me before the pandemic started, but it was so special to me this time because it was like experiencing it for the first time. It has been so long- 7 months.

How was your weekend?

Thank you for reading. God Bless.

Blessed by Seeing Others Reach Goals

June 30, 2020June 30, 2020 ~ jesusluvsall ~ 23 Comments

Ten years ago a 16 year old girl from Vietnam joined my weekend study groups. It was obvious from the start that she was an intelligent girl. A year later after only studying English for one year, she was enrolled in Advanced Placement classes at her high school.

It was a joy to help her with English and prepare for the ACT Test. A few moments I will never forget are the time she was upset because she got a Health Sciences Scholarship to cover all of her college expenses for four years but not the scholarship her friends got. It took a little explaining to help her understand that for her goal of becoming a doctor, the one she got was better for her.

The other moment was when I was in Brazil in 2015. One morning I was cooking some eggs and checked my Facebook. She asked me to read her essay for her Medical School application. We chatted for about 45 minutes. When we finished, I remembered I was cooking eggs. They burned real badly.

She is near the end of Medical School and is applying for Residency in Family Medicine. She wants to be a Family Physician. Through Google Docs we went over her personal statement for the application. She did not really need my help, but it was a blessing to interact with her again. She mostly just need reassurance from her old teacher and a reminder that Jesus knew she would be applying for a Residency before she came to America.

As a teacher one of my greatest blessings is to see former student achieve in life. My friend from Vietnam is certainly achieving.

Thank you for reading. God Bless.

Story Time- A Memorial Day Cookout with Teens from Vietnam

June 11, 2020June 11, 2020 ~ jesusluvsall ~ 30 Comments

One Memorial Day ten years ago, some young people I mentored and taught in my weekend groups invited me to join them for their Memorial Day cookout in a park. I went wondering what it would be like.

The reason is the December before they asked if we could have a Christmas party instead of studying on a Saturday. I agreed. Then they told me they would bring all of the food. Well the food ended up being chips, candy, and soda.

When I got to the park and joined them, I was pleasantly surprised that they had brought meat to grill. They were happy to share with me and gave me a plate. I cut open the meat and quickly shouted- “Don’t eat this yet. Put it back on the grill.”

They asked me why. I explained to them that pork has to be cooked thoroughly so no pink or blood is showing. They had cooked it like they would a steak they way they liked steak- medium rare.

I explained that if pork is not cooked all of the way that they could get worms. When they heard that, they made sure the meat was cooked completely.

I always had a watchful eye for my young Vietnamese friends. They were and still are important to me. At times I would anticipate their needs such as when they would need to fill out financial aid forms.

God always has a watchful eye on us to look out for us, protect us, guide us, and let us know he is there for us.

Jesus talked about how much God cares about us in Matthew 6:

“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life”

Thank you for reading. God Bless.

Q and A with me- Good Questions and My Responses

March 20, 2020March 20, 2020 ~ jesusluvsall ~ 26 Comments

I enjoyed receiving some good questions in my post The K Club: Thank to My Followers and Q and A with me, and today I would like the share the questions and my answers.

I think I got all of the questions. If I missed yours, please let me know in the comment section.

Lydia of inhisserviceandlovingit.wordpress.com asked:

How has blogging helped you in your life?Did you ever think you would make it to the # of followers you have now?What advice do you have for a first time blogger?

Blogging has helped me connect with people around the world. I have learned from my fellow bloggers. It has given me a creative outlet as well. I never thought I would reach 1,000 followers, but when I hit 800 I thought I might.

Advice for a first time blogger- give yourself time to grow. Don’t give up in the beginning. 2 years ago I had 30 followers and would get excited if I had 10 views. Also remember to interact with other bloggers with meaningful comments. Comments like “great post” don’t get my attention. Learn from other bloggers by seeing how they write and seeing if you want to incorporate ideas, but be yourself. Remember why you want to blog.

I would like to invite other bloggers to share ideas in the comment section 🙂

Dawn of drawingclosertochrist.com asked- Being that you interact with so many different people (often from different countries), what advice can you give related to sharing your faith with others?

Be authentic, actually care about the other person, take time to get to know the person. By doing these things you can build friendship. PRAYER is key. Don’t worry about method. Share the love of Jesus and what he means to you.

Pallavi of curatingthoughts.blog asked- how are you dealing with all of this Covid-19 fright? I will be honest, it’s starting to get me and now I am looking for ways to stay calm and positive in all of this.

It is definitely a stressful time and one that I have never seen before in my life. For the fear, my relationship with Jesus helps me the most. He has helped me through many difficult times in my life. I don’t know how it will all work out, but I know nothing can separate me from Jesus.

I have to admit being single and living alone makes the self isolation thing rough because I am a people person. I love to be with people. I am trying to stay in contact with others via social media.

Beverley of becomingtheoilandthewine.com– I admire your strength and your positiveness during all of this worldwide drama and I recognized that you are able to stay calm because of your strong faith in God. My question to you is this: Do you think that another reason why you are not fearful of this virus outbreak is because your struggles with chronic illness have made you more resilient and strong?

Yes I do think my struggles with chronic illness and living through them with Jesus helping me has made me resilient. I will never forget my first major struggle in 1993 to 1995 and how I was almost at death’s door in July 1995. One night I thought I was going to die and prayed to Jesus saying, “there are more people who need help and more people who need to hear about you.” The presence of Jesus filled my room. It gave me a tiny taste of being in his presence but enough of one that I know he is so real and he is on the other side of death waiting for us to come home in his time.

Brenda of becominghistapestry.com asked- How many mission trips have you been on? Which made the most impact on your life? Would you consider yourself a missionary?

I have been on 11 missions trips and hope to go on more. My first trip to Romania in 1997 had a huge impact on me. It was during that trip I realized there was something special about the connections God has given me with other cultures. It was my 3rd trip to Romania in 1999 that I realized God was calling me to teach English as a way to connect with people from other cultures.

Yes I consider myself to be a missionary- a missionary to the many people groups living in my city.

Rene of hearttokens.home.blog asked- What has been your greatest teaching moment as a teacher and as a Christian in your church, and/or in your life, in general? Or what has been the greatest teaching moment that maybe God has taught/or shown you personally?

Oh my so many wonderful teaching moments I do not know which to choose. I think my study groups with young people from Vietnam over a period of 7 years was meaningful to me because I watched them go from high school students, and a few out of high school but needing more English, to graduating college and going on to grad school. My times with them taught me a lot about myself as well.

Another wonderful time was teaching English in Rio do Sul a small city in Southern Brazil. I taught for a small university there. I was the only American in the city most of the time, so I got immersed in the culture. My Portuguese improved a lot. I spent a lot of time with my students outside of class too.

Herry of herrychiccounsels.com asked – What advice would you give your twenty something year old self? Anything you would have loved to do differently

So many things I would tell 20 year old me such as pour yourself into language learning because God has given you ability with languages. Biggest thing would be focus on Jesus.

Big Sky Buckeye.com asked – How does your teaching fill up your emotional tank?

Teaching fills me up in many ways. The interaction with students energizes me. When I am teaching, it is when I feel I am fulfilling what God has called me to do. Seeing my students succeed in life and experience milestones such as becoming a citizen, graduating college or high school, starting and having a career, encourages me a lot.

Blessed by Small Moments

February 4, 2020February 4, 2020 ~ jesusluvsall ~ 29 Comments

Sunday Morning I woke up feeling fatigued which is normal in my life. I made myself get ready, so I could go to church. On such mornings it is a temptation to stay home all day in my sweat clothes and relax or just stay in bed.

But I had a very important thing to do.

My young friend from Vietnam, who has come to my Sunday morning group since last summer, will move to Texas this Wednesday. Sunday morning was time to say goodbye. We prayed for her at the end and after we finished praying she cried. It was a poignant moment.

Then as I went to worship service, I saw my friends from Rwanda. I always enjoy greeting them in French and welcoming them. I like to joke with them by asking if they had any tests and if they did I congratulate them.

Before I went into worship service, a friend from Brazil introduced me to a new family from Brazil. We spoke in Portuguese which was fun. While we were talking, one of the pastors came by to introduce me to a woman from Mexico. I spoke with her in Spanish and shared with her about my Sunday morning class.

If I had given in to the fatigue and pain, I would have missed out on those wonderful moments. Moments of sharing Christ’s love with people from four different countries.

Small moments of blessing are too easily overlooked by us especially if we are only looking for the big moments.

Thank you for reading. God Bless.