Part 2: A thousand words...

I recently was able to purchase a camera for my missionary journeys and already I am seeing the advantage of taking my own pictures to post on my blog.  So here are a few photos of what we do in D.C.


 Every morning at 6:00AM, we gather at this point of the Ellipse, the President's backyard, and we have a time of prayer.  We have been praying for various topics but especially for an event in the fall called David's tent.  More information is available at davidstentdc.org.

Sometimes our leader Jason, has a short group meeting where he might share or invites some of us to share.  Then we take a lap around the ellipse.  We are essentially prayer walking and preparing the grounds for the 40 days of worship.

Every so often we stop in front of the White House and intercede for the President of the United States of America.  

On different occasions, we have different short term teams who come and visit for outreach in Washington D.C.  This particular team was a youth group from Augusta, Georgia.  They had come to do outreach as well as pray with us for America.  They ended up staying for about four days.  We are meeting on the far side of the White House grounds before taking our prayer walk around the ellipse.

 After our meeting, we took our walk as a group.







As posted in my previous blog, we gather together every Tuesday and Friday Nights from 7:00PM to 9:00PM for worship and prayer.  The Augusta team joined us for a couple nights at the beginning of the week and we added some extra nights of worship for the past week.

My trip to Tajikistan and Pakistan is quickly approaching.  I have currently filled out and will be turning in my visa application tomorrow so please keep that in prayer.  Specifically that Tim and I would get our visa's for both countries.  We also have not met our financial goals for this trip.  The majority of the costs of the trip will be for flights to Tajikistan, Pakistan, and back to the states.  I am still about $2800 short for this trip and the date is quickly approaching.  In the natural it seems that this trip will not be happening but I have faith that it will still take place.  So far, I have enough for both of my visas but will still need finances for flights and ground fees.

So, if you would still like to donate to the Tajikistan/Pakistan trip, the link is still available through http://samuelschoi.blogspot.com/p/financial-partnership.html.  It is this kind of partnership that allows missions to exist overseas.  Thanks for your prayer and support.

YWAM-DC pt. 1

1.5 months is about how long I have been working with YWAM-DC/ Washington HOP and it has been quite a journey.  The first couple of weeks was filled with visiting the park behind the White house known as the "Ellipse" because of its oval shape, praying for America and watching the Truth Project videos.  Before I finished watching the DVD series, I had left to visit my friend in Spokane, WA for ten days.  I was there for his wedding and was one of his groomsmen.  Although it had only been 2 weeks since I had joined YWAM-DC, it was a nice break to visit an old friend and celebrate his marriage.

After making it back to Washington D.C., I hit the ground running.  It was back to full time ministry. 

U.S. Capital Building

One of the opportunities that I had was to work with a ministry called Aglow International.  This ministry started out as a woman's group but had recently allowed men to join in.  Although I am not too familiar with this ministry, they are very organized and focused with their mission.  As well as being rooted in prayer and the word, they are also politically active.  The focus of this trip to the nation's capital was Islam and the spread of Islam in America.

Although it does not seem like a topic of concern, the three days of gathering were filled with different people expressing what the problem was.  In any other context, I would feel like it was a conspiracy theory, but because of the evidence that was given, it was undeniable that Islam's influence in America has grown widely.   This is a topic of discussion at a different time and even maybe a different place.

While working with Aglow, we were able to go on an exclusive tour around the capital building.  Ruth Mizell gave us a tour around the building.  Some of the places we were able to access

Ruth Mizell and Aglow leader praying for YWAM

 

 

were the Chapel and the floor of Congress. These are restricted unless accompanied by authorized personnel. Since Ruth Mizell's husband was a retired Congressman, she was allowed to take us to these areas.  We spent time praying over microphones and seats at the floor of Congress.  While most tour groups had to stick to center zones, we were able to go where most people were restricted from.

View from Capital building balcony

This is another example of being allowed to view restricted areas.  This balcony is located in an area where most tour groups are not allowed to enter but because of who we were with, Mrs. Ruth Mizell, we were given access.

YWAM update

Dear friends and family,

I am writing to you because I have some news to share. After a year of working and school, I have decided to temporarily re-enter the ministry. I will be continuing education in the fall but during the summer I will be doing full time ministry.

Youth with a Mission (YWAM) has many locations around the world and the group I have joined is in Washington D.C. YWAM DC’s main ministry is running a house of prayer. They call themselves Washington House of Prayer (WHOP). The current schedule is from 5:30AM to 11:30AM Monday through Friday with evening prayer sets on Tuesdays and Thursdays open to the public from 7:00PM to 9:00PM. During this time we spend time in worship and intercession on various topics. The morning schedule consists of praying by Capitol Hill, video lessons, worship and prayer, and praying on the ellipse side of the White House.

Another event that is coming up soon is a trip to Tajikistan and Pakistan. My friend Tim has a heart for Pakistan and wants to end up doing long-term missions there. This trip will be a scouting trip to Pakistan. From August 5^th, I will spend a week in Tajikistan meeting with the brother of the leader of YWAM DC and a week in Pakistan scouting out the land and praying into possibilities of future ministry for Pakistan. I felt that the Lord had revealed that I should go with him on this initial trip to support his vision and calling.

This brief period back in missions will actually end up costing around $2860. This includes staff fees and groceries while staffing in DC and visa costs, plane tickets, ground fees, and other miscellaneous costs for outreach. Prayer is probably the most important aspect of this trip. Pakistan and the surrounding Islamic nations are very volatile and especially hostile towards Christianity. But a practical way you can support me in missions is through finances.

Please prayerfully consider supporting me financially and in prayer. As I go to the Middle East, a region of the world that is difficult to travel to, your support allows the kingdom of God to advance in such countries as Tajikistan and Pakistan.   The link to donate can be found on the Financial Partnership page.

Thank you for your consideration and prayers.

Be blessed,

Sam