By Keaton Wong

Near the end of November, I had a dream that all my friends at school and I were giving out gifts to people in need. This dream actually happened right after Operation Christmas Child. Throughout my life, it hadn’t really occurred to me that after all the years I’ve been at church, this Operation Christmas Child event hasn’t gone past our church boundaries; all our boxes and gifts were all being donated and packed by our church community. I felt like that this opportunity of gift giving should be available to everyone and not just our church. This actually became a reality on December 18, 2020 with our first Healing Grove Christmas outreach. During that event I saw a lot of people…people who brought their own friends from school and just in general, a lot of people I didn’t know, which was really good because I was able to work with people of all backgrounds to give to people in need, which was really cool.

What I learned about God through this is that He can do anything. I didn’t know that one simple dream could bless over 500 people! I thought I needed months to plan this but you know, through prayer and the right connections, it worked out really well in the end. In addition, what I learned about myself that day, is that if you ever have a dream, big or small, you should never keep it to yourself because you never know that it could actually bless multiple people in just one day.

By Betty Young

Molly, our dachshund mix, stations herself under the baby’s highchair every mealtime—the better to catch the crumbs that fall from the baby’s tray.  Dogs have no pride.  Molly is satisfied to catch the food scraps that fall to the floor—grateful for even the crumbs, no matter how small.  Our grandson eats at the table until he is satisfied.  Molly, however, is satisfied with the crumbs that fall under the table.  

As I watched Molly eagerly lap up the crumbs, I was reminded of this story in Matthew.  

Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.  A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me!  My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession.”

Jesus did not answer a word.  So, his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”

He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” Read more →

by Sandy Kang

The intense college-application season has hit our household for the first time. Previously, my daughter wrote her essays to achieve the honorable “A” from her schoolteachers. She is now meticulously crafting her words for another audience—the college admissions review team. Eventually, this essay will serve as her rite of passage to adulthood as she has chosen to profess her journey to faith in Christ and the discovery of her authentic self as a pastor’s kid. Read more →

by Betty Young

Our ESL ministry has been serving the Rockspring community for many years. I speak on behalf of every ESL teacher when I say that our most pressing desire is to share the Gospel with our students. As we teach our classes, our foremost thought is the salvation of each and every student. Yes, we can teach English, help them become US citizens, help tutor their children and even befriend them, but our best gift is and will always be salvation. Salvation is the most precious and costliest gift we can give our students. It meets the greatest need, brings the greatest blessing and has the most lasting results.

Pre-COVID19 we often saw our students every Tuesday and Thursday evening nine months out of the year. Some of the teachers saw them more often than their own family members. No wonder that we care so much for them. And now, during these COVID19 times, teachers have continued to keep in touch. We have provided our students free food boxes provided by our church and we hope and pray that we will one day be able to serve again as ESL teachers. Read more →

Hi, I’m Sabrina Lin and I was asked to share a story about my Dad.

My dad, Dr. CT Lo, was born in 1932 in Taiwan and is 87 years old now. He has a PhD in zoology and is an expert in schistosomiasis, which is the scientific name for bilharzia, a disease caused by the blood fluke parasite. So, my Dad worked for the WHO in Ethiopia trying to eradicate bilharzia. Being a scientist made him very skeptical and critical. He didn’t take what you said at face value. He always analyzed everything, almost too much. He thought he was always right. Do you know anyone like this in your family? Read more →