HI! 

 
Our family and friends!

So, you know Rhiannon Pereira or you know John Rosenbaum. Now meet us together, since we’re going to be getting married at the end of January, and all.

We met about 2 years ago through our church, New Hope Christian Fellowship, and the mission organization Youth With A Mission (YWAM) Modesto, which we were both volunteering for.

We started volunteering for different reasons. Rhiannon, having been a sincere Christian for the last 10 years and always feeling a strong call towards missions, began giving her free time to this group of guys who work mainly with the homeless, prostitutes, addicted (and all of their children!) here in Modesto, specifically South 9th Street. John came to a real understanding of Christ’s love through these guys, having been one of the drug addicted people that they extended the loving hand of Christ to.

After volunteering for most of 2006, John left for a Discipleship Training School (DTS)—that’s a kind of “initiation” training to become a part of YWAM officially. He spent 3 months of his lecture phase learning more deeply about Who God is and how to make Him known (through living His love out on people in mercy ministries, evangelization and discipleship) all while traversing the Sierra Nevada mountain range, based out of Bishop, California. John spent the latter half of the school living out what he learned in a forgotten, second world country called Kyrgyzstan, where he met beautiful people and had a chance to share his redeemed (through Christ) life with the Kyrgyz.

Rhiannon left for her DTS this last January, half way through John’s. She refined her love for sharing God’s Truth in this world in a visible way through her art and in a tangible way by being with locals in the community in Pismo Beach, California, sharing meals and sharing Christ. The second half of her school was spent split between Kenya and Rwanda, Africa. On top of having her heart broken over the people who have and do suffer so much tragedy, torn apart by war and hunger, she was able to give of herself in feeding the hungry, sharing the Truth of Christ’s work and love for these people and in spending quality time caring for and being with orphans.

Now we’re both back in Modesto, working full time with the YWAM base in town. We spend our days delivering food boxes to hungry families that are having trouble making ends meet, handing out bread and pastries that are donated to us to local “low-end” communities, being with the children of families that are too doped-up to take care of their kids and being available for whatever unexpected need may arise (like taking a homeless friend to the hospital or helping a church member move their house).

Both of us, specifically, have a heart for the children that we work with. Our plan is to spend more intentional time with these kids and teach them the basics of living and survival that they are missing out on. These kids were out of school for nearly 2 years (they’re in school now, by the grace of God!) so their reading, writing and math skills are lacking, to say the least. Ten year old Anthony didn’t even know what “to subtract” meant.

And education isn’t the only problem. The kids don’t bathe because they don’t know that they should. One boy, 9 year old Willy, still wets himself while outside playing and doesn’t even think to go change. These kids need to learn how to live and we want the honor of teaching them.

All of this isn’t even mentioning Rhiannon’s heart to continue sharing God’s love and truth through her art. She wants to, on top of painting out the love of God, bring together the local art community and give them a chance to be in touch with local Christians.

John wants to use his writing and poetry (see, we’re perfect for each other!) to express the glory of God and the life He wants to give to us.

A prison ministry and community garden are also in our plans (but on the back-burner for the time being).

So YWAM—Modesto, as a Non-Profit Organization, is giving us the covering to grow in ministry and missions as God is calling us in our home town. And you can be a part of what God is doing through us, as well.

Our hearts are to pour ourselves out for our friends on 9th Street; to be a listening ear, a compassionate heart, a trustworthy friend and a reliable source of truth in their world of deception, isolation and fear. Our hearts are to be able to be with our friends as they need us, unhampered by the schedule of a job. Christ is calling us to be in real relationship with our distressed friends on their terms (like He became man to relate to us on our terms) and we need the freedom of not working a job to survive to be able to do that.

What we are saying is we need our friends and family to come behind us in what God is doing through us and to support us. We need your prayers. We cannot do what we do without the grace of God being poured out on us through the prayers of the faithful. Pray for us, pray for our team and pray for our friends on 9th Street.

We also need your financial help. We need you to take care of us so we can take care of the sick (Luke 5:30-32). One-time donations are awesome and beautiful and we can’t survive without them. We also need consistent, monthly support, something that we can count on to pay the bills on a regular basis so we can focus on doing what we do and being who we are.

So, again, please pray for us and our friends. And please pray about being able to support what God’s doing in Modesto, whether it’s a one time donation or a monthly support of $1000 (ok, ok! $5 a month is a huge blessing and we would love you for it!). We know that it’s a sacrifice, but it’s also a huge blessing for us.

Feel free to contact us if you want to learn more about what we’re doing and other ways to get involved or just have any questions! We’d love to even sit down and talk if you’d like! Our emails and website are at the bottom of the page here.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your time, consideration and care for us. And may the peace of Christ be with you!

Love,

Rhiannon Pereira & John Rosenbaum
http://ywammodesto.org
rhiannonpereira@hotmail.com
kiaburr@hotmail.com