OurJesusJourney goes to Taylorsville, Utah

While in Idaho Falls, Matt was making calls to find the next stop on OurJesusJourney. He was calling the Salt Lake City area churches and got ahold of a church where the Pastor answered the phone. He was talking to him and I could hear a really good conversation going on. I heard Matt make the plan to head here to Bible Baptist Church in Taylorsville, Utah. The Pastor said they even had an apartment for us to stay in and that it would be stocked with food. Praise God! The conversation carried on for a bit and I heard Matt say to the Pastor, “I know that church! My mother-in-law goes there!” My ears perked up! I grew up in the church that my mom goes to, Bethany Baptist Church. I told Matt to ask the Pastor his name again and he said, “Marshall Warneke.” WOW! Turned out we were just invited to the church of Josh Warneke. Josh Warneke and his wife Rene are Missionaries in Fifi. Though we have never met them, we know of them very well. Their sending church is Bethany Baptist in Lubbock, our hometown, my childhood church. All the way in Utah God made a connection for us that we would NEVER have expected. The world gets smaller and smaller for us every day and every location!

We arrived in Taylorsville, Utah, near Salt Lake City, on November 10th. Apparently, though, the Pastor wasn’t expecting us until 3 days later. No problem, though. They were gracious in the miscommunication and put us up in their downstairs apartment, underneath Pastor Marshall and Rebbekah Warneke’s home.

They had a Fall Revival scheduled for November 15th-November 19th. Evangelist Rome Wager of God’s Cowboys was the speaker. We got out and passed out flyers throughout the area around the church to invite them out to the Revival and the church in general. We also talked to people in Laundromats, some in the mall, and handed some out at the bus/train station.

When we went out a couple of those days we were joined by a young man from Bible Baptist named Samuel Folahoula. He is 20 years old, but much wiser than his age would imply. He has a heart for the youth and invited a few of them along with us. He was a joy to be around and to hear about his love for his church. Matt and I had a conversation later that night about how we could see that God has a call on his life and that Sam would come around to see it. Wouldn’t you know it! Two nights later he surrendered to be a youth minister, starting right there at Bible Baptist. Immediately following the services, the Evangelist invited him to run the Youth Tent at his revival in June of 2018! It is always amazing to see God work in people’s lives. We are praying for Sam and his ministry here and in the future.

While here in Utah, Matt was given the honor and privilege of filling in as a guest instructor at the Bible college. He enjoyed doing so very much! What a blessing! I am a very proud wife and he is a very grateful man!