80 students and 24 staff attended our mission trip in Santa Monica

On top of seeking to reach out to the entire community of Santa Monica during our summer mission, we also seek to regularly engage with students at Santa Monica College. This year, we also decided to send a team of 15 of our 80 students to reach out to the UCLA campus.

During their second day at UCLA, two students from our group, Frank and Grace, approached a UCLA student named Luis.  Midway through the conversation, Frank and Grace shared that they are with a group called Cru.  Luis exclaimed, “I’ve been looking for Cru!”  He then shared that for the last year he’s been doing research and that he now believes that there is a God and that He is the God of the Bible.  Luis was interested in knowing more about this God.

So, Frank and Grace shared a booklet that they had been trained in this summer called “Would You Like to Know God Personally?.”  The booklet gives a basic outline of the gospel: that God loves you and created you for relationship with Him, that we are separated from God by our sin, that Jesus bridged the gap created by our sin, and that through our faith in Jesus alone we can be restored into relationship with God.  Luis was super engaged in the conversation and decided on the spot to place his faith in Jesus.  Frank and Grace called Alexis, one of the 15 students of the UCLA team who is also a UCLA student during the year.  Alexis and Luis connected, and Luis now intends to be part of UCLA Cru in the fall.

Luis’ story is an amazing story of new life in Christ, but it became that much more exciting for Frank and Grace (and the rest of our summer team) when Luis shared that last year he had worked with a UCLA student named Trevor who attended the 2013 summer mission in Santa Monica.  Trevor reached out to Luis, met up with him twice, and engaged in some spiritual conversations.  At the end of the summer, however, the two ended up going their separate ways.

Cameron mentored the above girls this summer: (L to R) Megan, Taylor, Lydia, Jocelyn, and Veronika. Jeff helped give leadership to the entire trip, especially with financial logistics.

One of the other UCLA students on the team quickly called Trevor to share the good news: Luis was a new brother in Christ and Trevor had been a part of that!  Overwhelmed with joy, Trevor, who had been praying for Luis all year, broke down in tears.

As members and staff of a summer trip like this, we pray for changed lives, lasting fruit, and that our students would experience God’s power and perfect plan.  Luis is an answer to this prayer!  Thank you for helping us and our students reach those like Luis with the gospel.

Prayer Requests

Praise God for Luis and his decision to surrender his life to Christ. Praise God for using Trevor and this year’s students!

Praise God for the 1,111 spiritual conversations, 343 gospel presentations, and 58 indicated decisions for Christ over the first 6 weeks in Santa Monica.

Please pray for the students as they finish out their summer in Santa Monica. Pray that God would continue to grow and use them!