New Blog adress

From now on i will be posting at www.Martymiranda.wordpress.com

Check regularly for updates and to see what i am doing right now!

Sunday Teaching

I had the privilege of teaching the first two chapters of the book of Ruth to Calvary Chapel this Sunday.  

I am teaching the last two chapters of Ruth this coming Sunday (Aug 3rd) so your prayer is appreciated.  

Barbeque at the Common

This Saturday, a group of us came to the park eager and ready to love and connect with people. We cooked up some burgers and invited everyone at the park to hang out and grab some free food. I invited three young guys who just finished college to have a burger and hang out with me, and ended up spending an hour with them. We kicked a football around and got to chat about their lives. One of the guys said, "i just can't believe anyone would come out here and do something for anyone other than them self!" They were touched by the genuine love shown and asked me a ton of questions about God. I shared how amazing God has been to me and the love He has for them. They were very open, and i pray that God will bring them into His family.

We also met a man from Longbeach who has been looking for a church to go to. He came to church this Sunday and really felt at home.

San Diego

Bonfire at La Jolla Shores





















I spent a refreshing month in Sunny San Diego seeing friends and family. I am amazed at the encouragement and support received from everyone. Being in San Diego put the past year in perspective and brought clear vision and goals for the future season in England: 

To love purposefully: Consistently and proactively engaging people, meetings the needs of the community, and serving with the love of Jesus.  

And to teach the bible in a home fellowship.

CALIFORNIA! here we come...

I am coming back to San Diego California this friday, June 20th!  My plan is to spend a month with friends and family, refresh, eat good mexican food and then return to England for another year.  Your prayers are essential.    

Psalm 40: "I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness in the great assembly; Indeed, i do not restrain my lips, O lord, You Yourself know.  I have not hidden Your righteousness in my heart; I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great assembly." 

God has put it on my heart to bring the gospel here fully, without compromise.  I have been blessed to see more of Gods heart than ever, and to see His fullness.  To rest in Him, and be His child as He carries me as a Father.  His heart breaks for the people here and i see it.  I desire to have the heart of David in this psalm.  To fully declare His righteousness, faithfulness, lovingkindness and truth to the great assembly.  Pray for boldness and a passion to bring Gospel of Christ to Southampton.  And for fresh new vision on how to do so.  

Pray for the fear of the Lord to reach the people of England and cause them to repent and turn to Jesus.  

Pray for my reflection time, to know God more intimately and His and His heart for the people of Southampton.  

Skate Church Outreach

Jonathan hosted a best trick contest  for the local skate community.  We handed out flyers all month to promote the event.  The turnout was amazing, and Jonathan was able to share the gospel to the participants after the contest.  They really respect Jonathan, and listened to every word that he said.  A few of them responded when he gave an invitation for prayer and to accept Jesus, so your prayers are appreciated.  One girl asked to pray with us and will be coming to the bible study we have at the Mitre.  

Every saturday now, Jonathan will be at the skate park giving bible studies and building relationships with the skate community.  Your continued prayer is appreciated for people to come to know the Lord and for the relationships we are building.  

Trip to Oxford

We all spent our day off in the beautiful city of Oxford!  Very prestigious indeed!  Chan and Lisa from church spent the day with us as we wandered around the peaceful parks and picturesque buildings.  

One Sixteen Pictures

London "Culture" Trip!!

We Spent our day off in the Beautiful city of London with Simon and his family.  The highlight of the trip for me was playing frisbee and hide and go seek in front of Big Ben and Parliament at night.  Amazing ;o)

One Sixteen!!

I am in awe of God!  Tonight was the outreach at the Mitre Pub.  God did exceeding above all i could of asked or thought.  

The first hour we waited upstairs, praying and preparing.  After seeing that people we not coming, we prayed and went down stairs to invite the people who were already in the pub to come up for some food and to hang out.  Groups of people started to come up and start conversations with us.  Everyone got involved which was encouraging to see.  People came to pray, help set up, welcome people in, play live music, engage in conversation and share the gospel.  We had a chance to talk to two awesome guys from France and Iran, and shared the gospel with them.  They were really touched by Gods love through the warm welcomes and conversation.  Joe shared the gospel with two guys who were blown away that someone would approach them and lovingly invite them to come hang out.  At the end, I got to talk to three guys who were really hit when we shared the gospel with them.  While people were talking, we played music ate food, and ended the night with a pub quiz.  

Overall it was just an amazing night to meet people, get real with them, listen to their hearts and share Gods truth with them.  It was amazing because i expected it to be a night of being up on a stage sharing through a microphone, but God brought us away from the stage and allowed us to get real with people, which was far better.  It was such a beautiful night.

Please pray for the seeds that were planted.  Seriously, we all think people got saved which is incredible and a lot of them want to come to church or come to the regular Mitre bible study on Thursdays.  

Thank you everyone for praying.  We all learned so much tonight and were in awe watching God touch lives and transform people right in front of us.  

 

One Sixteen

Romans 1:16 Paul says, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for i know that it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes..."  

That is the heart behind an event we are hosting at the Mite Pub in portswood this Thursday.  

The purpose of the event is for people who have not heard the gospel to come and hear the truth of Jesus Christ.  We will have music, food and a pub quiz.   In between, we will be sharing our stories of how God has saved us and touched our lives as well as presenting the gospel message.

Please pray for salvation.  Pray that people will hear the gospel who have never heard it before, and to that they will turn to God.  Pray for people to come as well.  All this week we will be inviting people, so pray they will come and hear the gospel!

Plugg Teaching

We had an opportunity to speak to the youth at St James church about sharing the gospel to prepare them for an outreach the church was hosting the following Sunday.  We kept the teaching really practical, giving them ways to direct conversation towards the gospel, share their story and be real with people.  We did a one on one role playing conversation with a kid named Tom which went really well.  They were all really engaged and during the outreach, most of them shared the gospel boldly and invited people to the event.  

         

Film and Theology

Once a Month a Calvary, we all get together to watch a film and discuss the principles illustrated in the film through reading the bible and discussing the theology after the film.  This month we watched, "I am Legend."  

Below are a few pictures of our study and discussion about walking in the light vs being in darkness.  

Summer Updates

It has been a long time since i have had an update!  The past few months have been and amazing time to grow closer to the Lord and walk in the way He has prepared.  I am having the time of my life here, as challenging as it is. 

THANK YOU for all of you prayers and love!  Thank you for all of the emails you send and for the encouragement you bring.  Your prayers are bearing fruit here in Southampton.  

So, Jonathan Domingo is now in the UK serving with us in the lovely Southampton!!  Here is a picture of the stud with Amaris and I.  

It has already been an incredible blessing having him here with us.  From day one, he jumped right into ministry and has been a real encouragement to me.  He is a true brother.  

Your prayers are appreciated for him:

 -for his relationship with God to grow immensely this year.  

-for the ministry the Lord has for Him. 

-Skate church:  Jonathan has already been reaching out to the skate community and has built strong relationships.  His vision is to start a "Skate church" which is aimed at bringing the gospel to the skate community though skate events and weekly bible studies in the skate parks.  Your prayer for this is essential and appreciated.  

Saturday Night Youth Group!

Studying through the book of John

Worship with the little ones.   

Video from Missions Week!

Check out a video of missions week at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a64mb_inlfo

Follow Up On Missions Week

Thank you for your prayers for the missions week and the students on campus.  To update you on what has happened since missions week:  

Unite at the Cube - 

The week ended with a massive dance party at the campus nightclub the following monday after missions week.  A lot of people who had come to the events during missions week came to dance and hang out.  Hammad came, and we got to talk about where he is at with the Lord.  He has also been coming to the friday night "Unite" meetings with the christian union.

                                        

Solent University - This week, I have been involved with another missions team at Solent University, helping them promote events and sharing the gospel with students.  We had a gospel talk each day in the main Cafe, and blessed the students with activities such as washing dishes in the dorm room kitchens for the students.  

Thank you for keeping updated and staying in prayer!  

Pictures

    

  

Valentines Day! True Love

Love is in the air ;o)  In the morning, a group of us went out fully loaded with chocolates, hearts, and valentines day cards to spread the true love of God on campus.  You could tell it really made peoples days to receive a gift in the morning, and for them to hear that God loves them so much that He sent Jesus into the world for us to have life.  I spent the rest of the day meeting new students who came into the tent, sharing the gospel outside and getting to know the students from the Christian union.  

In the evening, we had another free meal for international students, followed by a message about Jesus and the movie "Love Actually."  I sat down with a group from Germany on an exchange program for the year.  They really opened up and shared their experiences of being away from home, their hopes and plans for the future, and their beliefs about God.  One girl named Steph stayed after to listen to the message, even though the rest of her friends left.  She asked me questions the entire time about how God changed my life, what my friends thought when I gave my life to Jesus, what i want to do with my life.  She grew up going to Christian youth groups, but it never clicked with her heart.  After the talk she left to meet with her friends, but i know God touched her heart and that His word never returns void.  

Day 3 Good news

The Kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow.  He himself does not know how.  Because the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, then the full grain in the head.  But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."  Mark 4:26-29

The seeds that have been planted this week are ripening.  During the International Cafe message, a student named Hammad from Iran asked me if Jesus was the Son of God, or God, or both?  I told him that the bible says that Jesus is fully man and fully God; God in the flesh; that God came down in the form of a man, Jesus Christ, and lived among us, being tempted like we were, experiencing everything that we experience.  He asked me about my life, as he had heard me share my testimony earlier, about what it looked like when God did such a radical change in my life.  Is God so real that He listens to us, cares about us, changes us and helps us?  He asked me what i do for fun if i don't drink or smoke or have sex.  I told him that with God, i don't need anything else to be fulfilled, and that Jesus came to bring abundant life.  He said that when he smokes and drinks it never satisfies him and leaves him wanting more from life.  

Hammad has come to the tent every day this week, and has changed dramatically.  Through people talking to him all week and sharing the truth with him, Gods word has planted in his heart, and its grown overnight, and is now ripening.  He asked me to pray for him, that God would come into his life and reveal Himself to him.  When we finished praying, he looked at me with a massive smile on his face and said, "I know God has heard me and that he knows my heart."  God is absolutely amazing.  I am learning about Gods power, not to trust in my words, or efforts, but to look to God and trust fully in His power and His word.  When we speak his word, it does settle in peoples hearts as they are able to hear it.  Not everyone is ready, but God prepares them.  

Hammad invited me to come to have lunch with him, and he will be coming to the tent tomorrow.  And in light of his question of whether christians have fun or not, he is coming with us to a free dance club night this monday put on by the Christian Union.  This has been an amazing answer to prayer, as i know that students have been a priority in every prayer letter and many of you have been praying for God to reach students on campus.  Students are discovering God given passions to evangelize and many of them are seeing Gods truth come to life and His power for the very first time.  Even at Calvary Chapel, people were so excited to serve and it really fired them up to step out even more.  

So thank you for keeping this week in prayer.  

For thursday, your prayer is appreciated for:  

Refreshment for the students.  Many of them come in between lectures and stay all day.  

Continued trust in God to prepare people and save them as we share about God.   

The lunchtime message on, "what about other religions."   For God to speak through Krish, who has done every talk this week.  

International Cafe in the evening:  This has been an amazing way to meet students and talk about God, as we sit down and have a meal with them.  Pray that they would feel welcome.

Valentines day:  We are handing out chocolates and roses to students for V day.  Pray that it would lead to people seeing that God is love.  

 

Day 2 Good News

"And when they had heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, 'we will hear you again on this matter.'  So Paul departed from among them.  However some men joined and believed."  Acts 17:32-24

Today, the topic of discussion was "Science and Christianity," which is a major stumbling block for students on campus when it comes to believing in God and creation.  We had two back to back sessions consisting of a half hour message followed by a discussion panel, where people put us on the spot and asked us any questions they had.  Before the talk i was blessed to be able to share my testimony of how God reached me when i was in University.  After the message, i was also on the discussion panel.  Of course, we got asked some questions about creation and evolution and were able to share what the bible teaches about God creating the world in 6 days, resting on the 7th and the order of which He set up life.  We shared Romans 1:20 how God can be seen clearly through creation so we are without excuse when it comes to believing in God.  My favorite part of the day is after all of the formal discussions, when we sit down and just be real with everyone.  We have some amazing conversations over a cup of tea and really get to hear peoples hearts.  These are tough life questions that we all wonder about and we don't pretend to be all knowing and have every answer perfect.  But we serve an all knowing, all powerful God, who is loving and desires every students we come in contact with to know Him.  

I had an awesome chat with a Canadian named Collin.  We both had the same sounding accent and similar vocabulary, so we hit it off right away.  I hope to see him again and that he continues to come to the events.  

What's this couch doing here?!

We'll... we decided to set up a couch in the center of the campus, where all the students hang out, with the hope that people would see us, wonder what on earth we were doing sitting on a couch in the main square, and ask us questions.  Brilliant...  Sure enough, people came, sat down with us, and asked what we were all about.  Two older students joined us in our lounging.  We got talking about God, and they shared how they believe that God exists, but that He is far from us today and doesn't care what we do with our lives.  We shared with them the power of God in our lives, and how he knows us, changes us, speaks to us, directs us, and loves us every day.  

I know that with your prayers, God will supernaturally turn peoples hearts to Him and that students will respond to the gospel message.  In the book of Acts, Paul talks about the Barean's, how they, "received the word with readiness and searched the scriptures daily to find out wether these things were so."  This week is an amazing opportunity because students can come hear the gospel every day at any time.  Many people we talk with on campus come in to the tents later to listen to the gospel.  They are seeking answers and God is giving them.

As quoted earlier from Acts 17, after hearing about Jesus resurrection from the dead, some people mocked, some wanted to hear more before they believed, and a few people believed.  We never read anything that suggests that the people who wanted to hear more ever got that second opportunity.  Praise the Lord we have a 24/7 prayer tent, but they may not get another chance.  This week, with your prayers, i know God will prepare students to believe the good news, drop their nets and follow Him no matter what the cost.  

Good News

"There is one God and one mediator between men and God, and that is the Man Jesus Christ who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time."  1 Tim 2:5-6

This week (Monday the 11th until Friday the 16th) is missions week on campus at Southampton University.  There is a massive 24/7 prayer tent as well as a Cafe tent set up in the center of the campus where teachings, evangelism, open discussions about christianity, live music, and other events are held throughout the week.          

Monday : Good News

In the morning we all met together to pray, share the gospel and help set up for the events.  We invited students to come in for a teaching and an open discussion about suffering and why a loving God would allow bad things to happen to good people.  During the discussion, a student named Angus asked why God would even create us and allow us to exist in a fallen world, knowing that we will sin and be tempted.   After the discussion ended, he stuck around and sat at his table looking deep in thought.  I sat down next to him and asked him if his questions had been answered.  He told me that he came to encounter God, but felt that his own understanding and the way his mind works would not allow him to come to God in faith.  

Please pray for the students minds to let go of the lies and turn to God.   They are taught that we are not created and that there is no real truth.  They are  constantly presented with a "Savior shopping" mentality, where they are presented with some gospel truths in a cute way, and are told to look into other religions as well 

to see which one best fits them.  Pray for authority in the preaching this week and for the Holy Spirit to lead people into truth and to empower the speakers.  Pray that the students will encounter God.  

I shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ with Angus and prayed with Him.  Pray that he will come back and give his life to Jesus.  

The Chille Out

Left Picture:  Matthew (middle), Andy (right), and I providing some musical entertainment for the international guests.  We played the Fugee's, Outkast and some Bob Marley covers.  

In the evening, friends from Calvary Chapel arrived with food and a heart to serve!  I was so blessed to see everyone from Calvary eagerly serving food with a smile and engaging with the international students.  Andy and I had an a

mazing time making a ridiculous amount of Chile the night before.  Joe's Testimony presented the students with the gospel and was well received.  Please pray that this night would encourage the church and that we would continue to come together to serve and share the gospel.  

Tomorrow is a new day!  Keep posted for updates all this week.  

Specifically, i appreciate your prayers for:

Tomorrows discussion: the topic is science and religion.  Attendance and that people would get saved.  

Leadership and Boldness in me to share the gospel and lead others to do so as well.  

"For i determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  I was with you in weakness, in fear and in trembling.  And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God."  1 Corinthians 2:2-5