LA Thrash 2013 - Week 2

Home from Chile!! our lives recently.

April is on its way out, May is on its way in, and the question many are asking us is, "What have you guys been doing since you got back from Chile?! " Well dear friends, I finally have some answers for you! Thanks for your patience with us as we have taken a while to update you on the happenings of our last month.

Back in LA, landscaping before graduation.. glorious Team Chile.

We arrived back from outreach both sad to leave Chile, and excited for what's coming next. We absolutely adored our outreach team... Actually even that feels like an understatement... We were (& are still) crazy about them. So it was heartbreaking to say goodbye. But one week after returning to LA we watched our team of students graduate the Discipleship Training School & return home to go change the world.

Our best friend Beka's last morning in LA

 Weeks 1 & 2 of being home were busy, sad, and yet still somehow full of celebration because of all that God had done. One of our best friends, Beka Brigleb, came to visit too... She has led YWAM outreaches before so she was super helpful in our time of transitioning back home.

Easter morning with the family.

 Week 3 was restful. We had the week off... We cleaned the house, slept in, Shaun started another quarter at The King's University, and we spent quality time just being together. The last 2 and a half months we had been living with the other 11 people on our team, so it was nice to be just the 2 of us. During that week we stayed with our family in Huntington Beach, it was an incredible gift to reconnect with them. Their house is one of our favorite places on the planet.

Craziness with the Gleason's! (Our Huntington Beach family)

Adventures with the Gleason boys-- riding a motor scooter through goodwill; backyard lounging in a laundry basket, covered with a memory foam mattress pad... note my sister Meredith in the bottom photo :) We love family time!

The fourth week home we were back to work again on the YWAM LA campus. I (Jess) was given the task of organizing for 24 of us from the YWAM base to go down to San Diego for a week to work with a company called "Event Force". Through event force we would be on staff at the San Diego Convention Center, working for Cisco- the tech company- at their annual Partner Summit. To break this down... We would be working 4-16 hour shifts helping to run a convention for business executives in San Diego for a week. The awesome benefit is that it would be a fundraiser for YWAM LA & a portion of what we earned would pay off a month of our "staff fees" at YWAM LA. So, I worked like crazy, with thee help of a couple great friends, and we made it happen. Last week we were in SD working the convention & we had an amazing time. We met wonderful people and had many opportunities to serve them with the love of Christ. The hours were long and our feet ached but by the end of the week I heard several stories of executives seeing God in us and being deeply impacted by our presence there... That made it all worth it.

View from the Petco Skybox Lounge- Jess worked an evening event for Cisco Partners here!

San Diego Convention Center

 The final piece of this update is really the biggest thing that we have been doing, but I won't say too much about it now. I will have Shaun tell you about it himself because he will do a better job. But basically we are working diligently to start a new Discipleship Training School for skateboarders called, "Calling All Skaters" which is aiming to launch this upcoming September. The vision is that it would be more of a "discipleship house" style... Living off of the YWAM LA campus, together in a house (or church.. Or wherever God provides) pursuing Christ together. This is still a YWAM LA ministry, following all of the standards of a University of the Nations, Discipleship Training School. But it is the first one our base has ever done off of the campus. Shaun is almost finished with the website so I will pass that along here soon, but please pray for us. This is a HUGE undertaking and we are still needing God to provide a lot of different pieces in order for this all to come together.

 Please pray for me too, because I am trying to understand my role in all of this and what God's vision is for my ministry. This weekend we are in Huntington Beach with Meredith watching our 3 "little brothers" while thir parents (our adopted parents here) are out of town. It has been a weekend full of fun!

Thank you once again for your amazing support! We love you & pray you are blessed this week! 

 Love, Jess & Shaun 

PS. Have you met our God daughter, Lily?

Video from Chile!

Hi friends and family! I'm sorry that it has been so long since we updated you, I will give you a better update soon... but I wanted to share with you guys a video from our time in Chile.

I pray you are encouraged! Thank you for your love and support! Love, Jess

I have created a new blog for our team here in Chile! My hope was that it would bless the friends and family members of the students on our team, because I know they are missing their loved ones very much. I will be updating the team blog often so please check it out! 

teamchile.tumblr.com

Chile Update!!

On the plane to Chile!
Shaun cut holes in his sleep mask & walked around the plane with his blanket as a cape...

Hola amigos!!

Here's what's new:

-Another Skatepark Disciple Baptized 

-Gear Coming out of our Ears 

-Sixty Workers Sent out into the Harvest; Asia, Africa, South America

-In Chile. Sports Camps and Skate Comps!

Pancakes made by the DTS students before leaving on outreach! 

Jake Baptized; Alive in Christ!
We have been hanging out with Jake and witnessing to him at the skatepark for about three years now. He’d been really back and fourth, being really interested in Jesus, asking for prayer sometimes and coming to church. But he had not been willing to surrender everything to Christ; holding on to a few silly pleasures rather than taking hold of the Holy Spirit. 

He was close friends with Karl (who passed away a few weeks ago). After Karl’s death something amazing happened to Jake, He repented and became a new person!.

He called me a week ago because he saw the video of Saul being baptized at the skatepark and the video of his two other friends, PJ and Sevin, being baptized at the church and he was so stoked (that means excited)!!  He asked me if I could baptize him before I left for Chile (which was two days later).

I talked with Jesse Ruggles (Youth Pastor) and Pastor Pete and they gave me the green light so we baptized Jake in our friends jacuzzi! The whole Chile team was present as well as a bunch of Jakes friends from the skatepark. Saul (the one who was baptized at the skatepark) was also there! Afterwards we all went out for dinner and celebrated. Pray for Jake’s continued discipleship and perseverance in the faith.

Donated gear!

Gear Coming Out of our Ears

People donated gear for the ministries we’re working with in Chile. We have about 40 skateboard decks and a ton of other skate gear to bless all the Chilean skate kids with,  5 giant boxes of lane line for YWAM Pichilemu’s community swimming pool, 5 surfboards and a bunch of wetsuits for Iglesia Fuego Urbano, and more.  The result was 13 checked bags of gear to donate and 8 of those bags were oversized and/or overweight, but the airline didn’t charge us for any of it!! 

Special Thanks to those who donated all the stuff; Untitled Skateboards, The Sanctuary Church, Christian Hosoi, Christ Presbyterian Church, Jett Collective, Billy’s Boardshop, Sierra Fellers, Randy Usedom and others.

Prayer & commissioning before heading to the airport

Sixty Workers Sent Out into the Harvest; Asia, Africa, South America

A few days ago we had a big prayer circle at the YWAM Base as the DTS Outreach teams were about to load up the bus for the airport.

The work of discipleship can be tiring and even frustrating at times, but it’s so rewarding to see these 50 students that we have been working with so intensely for the last three months to be sent out into the nations to serve and to preach the message of hope in Christ.

Spencer & Anita wearing our "Team Chile" shirts, talking to Chileans on the plane

the girls decorated one of the donated decks with scripture

Anita, Michael, and Isaiah in the Santiago airport

MINISTRY IN CHILE! Sports Camps and Skate Comps!

All fourteen of us are safe in Chile. Our team jumped right into ministry, a bunch of them are working a sports program for kids with special needs. A bus from the city goes around and picks up kids from impoverished and abusive homes and brings them to the YWAM sports complex from 11:00am to 3:00pm to partake in the program.  Our team totally loves these kids! Each person focuses on three kids and continues with those same three kids for the next few weeks. They teach them swimming and other sports and they teach them about God, the Bible, and prayer.

Eve, our student from Germany, about to teach swimming lessons

Some of us have been totally connecting with all the skaters who hang out at the skatepark down the street and sharing the word of God with them. They get so excited when we show up, we've been giving boards to the kids riding the nastiest boards and we've run skate competitions the last two days. The first day 18 dudes joined the competition, Pipo won. They had so much fun that the next day they wanted to have another competition even though we didn't have a prize. So 24 kids joined and Mathias won, it was a blast!

Our little amigo walking down to the skatepark with his new deck

THANK YOU ALL FOR EVERYTHING! Even though you are not physically here, you who support us and pray for us are members of this Chile team! 

GOD BLESS YOU,

Shaun & Jessica Hover

Christmas in Michigan!

The Christmas lights in downtown Rochester! 

We are in Rochester Hills, Michigan for the week visiting Shaun's family for Christmas! The trip is a HUGE blessing for us both! Up until a couple of weeks ago we thought that we would only be able to afford to send Shaun home for Christmas, which meant we would be separated for the holidays! But God is SO faithful, and we were able to find vouchers to cover most of my (Jessica's) flight expenses!

We celebrated Christmas with the family on Tuesday and Wednesday because Shaun's brothers are going to be with their in-laws for Christmas weekend. It has been amazing meeting our new niece Siri Grace, and catching up with loved ones.

Thank you to all of our supporters who have made time to spend with us this week! We are so grateful for the meals and coffee dates together, and we are deeply encouraged by your love! We head back to Los Angeles on Tuesday to prepare to leave for Chile on Sunday! The outreach is coming so soon!

Please be praying for us as we trust the Lord to provide the last bit of finances for our outreach team! Also please pray for grace as we pack and finalize all of the details for the trip. We need Jesus!

God bless you & have a very Merry Christmas!

The huge gingerbread house in the Royal Park Hotel! We visit it every year!
The Royal Park Hotel is where we spent our first night of marriage. :) A very special place! 

Dear friends,

Our very close friend, Karl Tagorda, passed away last Thursday morning, December 1st, 2011. He was 19 years old.

He's a guy who met Christ through the skatepark ministry who got connected with the church and then did DTS here at YWAM-LA, going on outreach to Haiti.

Jessica and I were like a spiritual mother and father to him. He loved Jesus so much and he had such a deep love and compassion for people, especially his friends. 

He was living with his mom and dad, going to school, and working with his dad. 

Late Wednesday night two of his friends picked him up from his parents house with a balloon full of freon gas from an air conditioning unit. Looking for the thrill of a 15 second high, they each inhaled from the balloon. When Karl inhaled it he began to seizure and died within minutes. He died at approximately 3:00am, Thursday morning. 

Please join us in prayer, first and foremost for his family. Pray also for his friends, Karl was friends with EVERYBODY in Sunland-Tujunga. 

Pray that in the midst of this tragedy the Lord will continue to be lifted high and that people will come out of the darkness of and into the light, the hope of salvation in Jesus Christ.

I am overwhelmed by the Lord's goodness; His long-suffering and unfailing love, His tender mercies and compassion, His amazing grace and majesty, and His perfect faithfulness. He is the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort. Praise be to our God, He is worthy of the praises of His people.

Karl's viewing Friday (today) and his funeral is Saturday and on Sunday Chapel of the Hills is having a special memorial service

Thank you for your prayers.

God bless you,

Shaun and Jessica

 

Hello Friends,

We Leave for Chile December 31st!

Our team's vision is to use sports (skate, surf, sport, dance) to share Jesus with the youth of Pichilemu and La Serena, Chile.

This is also the vision of the long term missionaries who we are serving with, Mitch Anderson in Pichilemu (www.jucumpichilemu.cl/) and Greg Haugh in La Serena (http://fuegourbano.org/)
Our strategy for our short term team to make a long term impact is by serving these long-standing ministries who are reaching their communities for Christ through sports.

Chile is 85% Roman Catholic. Sports and Godliness are incompatible. Skateboarding, surfing, dancing, sports, having long hair or piercings etc. are viewed as contradictory to following God. This causes a major disconnect between the youth and the Church, with the youth eventually pushing God aside altogether. The Chilean youth desperately need relationships with passionate young people who can model a living relationship with Christ, invite them into a saving relationship with God through Christ, and plug them in with ministries that will disciple them! Our team is a great fit for this task!

Another way we want to bless their ministry is by bringing 14 checked bags (up to 50 lbs each) of skateboard decks and gear and sports gear to donate for these ministries.

Jessica, Dorothea, and I are so excited to lead this team of 11 DTS students on this Chile outreach for 2 and half months.

We so appreciate your prayers and support!

God bless you,

Shaun and Jessica Hover


If you feel led to give toward this outreach, our team still needs a few thousand dollars and would be so grateful!
For your fast and secure online tax-exempt donations go to:
https.//www.meigiving.com/ywamla.php under Giving Type select "special gift for project": and put: B8000 YWAM LA Chile Outreach

Fashion Week LA! PART 2 - The Models

"Please come back and do more shows. Before you walked into the room everything was so stressful, everything was tense, but then as soon as you walked in there was immediate peace. It felt like everything was going to be okay." -a model to us after the show.

"Nobody in this industry cares about anyone else. They are all out to get things for themselves and become successful. Nobody cares about anyone... Except you. You are different. There is this sweet spirit about you..." -a model to me while talking backstage

The models have stolen my heart. Really. I feel overwhelmed with love for them. Their lives are so precious, yet many of them don't even know.

Each show we worked we were able to invite our models to be a part of Models For Christ (MFC). MFC is a family of fashion professionals in NYC, LA and Miami that is designed to be a family of support and encouragement for fashion professionals. Many of them appeared quite interested in getting involved. One male model we met said that he was really struggling to make friends in LA, and he was feeling the pressure of constantly having to change his appearance to please the agency he was working for. He was a young caucasian guy from Oregon, who had dyed his hair and tanned his skin because he needed to be able to work as a Latin American model. This young guy was so grateful that we cared about him that he stayed with our group most of the night, just so he could finally have the joy of being with friends. It was great. He assured us he would come to MFC because he was desperate for interaction with people who would really love him.

One night after the shows we were about to leave the parking lot when a model in her car asked if we would want to go eat with her and her friend, so we invited them to hop in our big YWAM van and we went to a restaurant together. It turns out that they were Christians too and the model had even done a YWAM program in Nashville. We were able to pray with them and encourage her friend who was struggling because of rejection he experienced with other Christians. I actually ran into the model yesterday on the street in Huntington Beach, she recognized me and invited us to attend a party with her next weekend. God is so fun.

I met a model backstage who was here working because she was a contestant on Russia's Next Top Model. She had never been in America and was only going to be here for the one day, so it was fun to be the first American to really welcome her. I invited her to MFC and was able to give some input on a decision she was making in her modeling career. She was a sweetheart and it was obvious that our time together really meant something to her.

The last model I dressed was difficult because she appeared completely uninterested in relating to me at all. I was even a bit confused as to why God would have me working with her, because I had prayed so much I was sure that God would put me with someone who had been fully prepared in her heart to receive some loving! But no, I was with a model who didn't want me there! Haha but actually that wasn't true. After about twenty minutes of me helping to hold her gown and attempting to converse with her, she finally turned around and said, "I'm sorry this is my first show and I am really nervous." After that we were finally friends! (I am laughing as I write this because it really was an exciting moment for me) After that my sweet new friend allowed me to speak with her and take care of her, because it turned out she was sick too. At one point I asked if I could pray for her and she quickly grabbed my hand and bowed her head so that we could pray. It was amazing! When I finished praying I opened my eyes to see another of my YWAM girls praying for her model. After the show my model ran to me to hug me, thank me, take photos with me, and ask me if I thought she did well. It was a total turnaround from the beginning of the show.

One model had to carry a dress that weighed 45 pounds and she was literally bending because of the weight of it. In her desperation she let three of us pray for her to have strength to carry the dress.

My last night I was SO blessed because one of the models that arrived was actually one of my close friends from Models For Christ. We didn't know we would both be there, and it had been a while since we spent time together, so it was a HUGE gift to sit and talk with her before the show. She had actually been going through a uniquely difficult situation that I was able to speak into, so the timing was really perfect.

God so adores these models. He is completely passionate about pursuing their hearts and revealing His love to them. It is always an honor to be a part of that process.

Updates from LA's Fashion Week! PART 1- FAVOR

Backstage again, under-qualified again, fearful but faithful... again. God is too good.

Another Fashion Week outreach, only this time it was here in Los Angeles instead of New York. The opportunity came unexpectedly, and our decision to volunteer happened quickly. Before we had much time to think, 16 of us young YWAM missionaries piled into vans and headed to downtown LA. We were hired to dress the models, simply because of my one week of experience dressing models in New York City this past September. We were all honored and excited to serve, recognizing that this was a rare opportunity to reach a group of people that may not otherwise be reached by the love of Christ.

One of the most amazing testimonies of the week was simply the great favor we received from our supervisors. In the beginning of the week they were stressed and slightly guarded, yelling directions and bluntly advising us not to steal or leave early. (Not that any of this was wrong, they were bearing a large amount of responsibility in making sure the whole week went as it should.) But by the end of the first night my YWAM girls had done such an excellent job dressing the models that our supervisors were praising our work and insisting that we return the next day to do it all again.

When we came back the next day everything went even better than it did the day before. There were two groups of us sitting on either sides of the room backstage. One side was packed with students from FIDM, (The Fashion Institute here in LA), then we were sitting on the other side of the room.. our anxious group of untrained missionaries. Each time the stylist would come grab a student from FIDM to dress, our supervisor would step in and say, "NO, those are NOT our dressers, (then she would point to us) THESE are our dressers!" Then one-by-one our girls went and greeted the model that they would be dressing for the night. After the show was over we praised God because literally NOTHING went wrong. They were brilliant! Everybody involved appeared pleased with how the show happened! At the end of the evening one of my girls took a bold step of faith and asked if she could pray for our head supervisor, then after what felt like an eternity of a pause, she responded, “Yes! But first let me grab my friends!” So within minutes our entire group circled around our bosses and my friend Dorothea prayed a beautiful prayer over them. Afterwards one of them was crying, Dorothea encouraged her by reminding her of God’s love for her as His daughter. She received the encouragement wholeheartedly and told us that she was a Christian too.

The following night we were unable to go but when we arrived on Friday our bosses were all too excited to see us. They filled us in right away that things had been stolen the night we weren’t there, they actually said, “We really felt it when you weren’t here last night!” I even overheard one supervisor telling another woman, “You don’t need to worry about these girls stealing anything, they are Christians, they wouldn’t do that.” This final night of working happened to be the most intense. It was couture night, so it was the biggest show and had the most fragile, elaborate dresses. They told us before we arrived that they probably weren't going to have anyone but me do the dressing because they needed "the best". So instead of choosing us they were going to choose the trained students from the Fashion Institute to do the dressing. However, things changed, and when we showed up they decided that we were "the best", and that my inexperienced girls were going to be dressing the show- instead of the fashion institute students! So we called our friends back at the YWAM campus and got as many people praying for us as possible. Then we gathered in a back room and prayed intensely that God would move in us and through us. We also asked Him to lift the nervousness and replace it with courage! He did!

The show went incredibly well (I will share details in the next post!) that afterwards I was approached by the designer's assistant, (who was originally a very intimidating woman with a Satanic tattoo on her neck), she said, "We were asked to do this show again so that it could be put on television, and I would like you and your girls to come back and dress our models again because they did such an amazing job." So amazing!

Our supervisors were deeply grateful for our presence there. Acknowledging the peace, joy, and positivity that happened when we arrived. There was real trust and safety that happened because they could feel God in us. It was completely beautiful. They have already asked us to return in February for their next season of shows!

Update from Shaun- September 2011

DTS (Discipleship Training School)

We currently have 50 students from all over the world to starting their 6 month Jesus journey called DTS (Discipleship Training School). It starts tomorrow!

Jessica and I are are not directing the entire program this time.

In this school we will be working much more directly with the students in discipleship and mentoring. Part of Jess’ and my role is also to help provide pastoral care for our fellow staff.

We are also overseeing six local ministry tracks that the DTS students will be joining with in their school, including the two ministries that we are personally leading; the Skate track and the Create track.

We will also be planning and leading a three month overseas outreach at the end of the year!

Did you know that there are YWAM DTS’s running in 125 nations and in 95 languages?

Brief update from this summer:

Colorado
-We spent two weeks in Colorado Springs (where Jess is from) to spend time with friends and family

-I spoke on The Great Commission at a skate church in Denver, Worked with a skate church in Colorado Springs and judged a skateboarding competition with Victory Outreach

-We taught in a cell group of about 30 college aged people on Commitment and Intimacy in Relationships.


Infusion
-Infusion is a summer program at YWAM LA. It’s basically a two week DTS. Jessica and I taught on Relationships and Purity and I also taught on The Great Commission. It’s amazing to see how much growth and transformation God can work in a person in just two weeks! A couple of my skatepark disciples did the program and they have never been the same since(in a good way)!

-I had the honor of baptizing 15 of these wonderful young people who were changed by God in Infusion. This includes two dudes from the skatepark!


GROW
-Jessica and I spoke on a Friday and Saturday at the GROW youth conference at Valley Park Church in the San Fernando Valley. On the fist night I spoke about Purpose and the second day we spoke about Missions.


YWAM University of the Nations Conference
-YWAM LA invited eight staff to a major YWAM conference in Kona, Hawaii.

They covered our conference fees and I got my flight with frequent flyer miles, so the whole trip was totally covered! It was so good to connect with and learn from YWAM leaders from all over the globe, including Loren Cunningham, the man who founded YWAM 50 years ago! (this is what I was doing while Jess was in New York...not a bad deal eh?).


I'M PUTTING TOGETHER A SHORT VIDEO FROM MY EAST ASIA SKATE OUTREACH. YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS IT!

I cannot post it on the internet for security purposes but I want to send all of you a DVD. If you have never given us your mailing address, please send it to me so that I can send you this video when it is complete.


Praise the Lord! Thank you so much for your partnership with us! Let us know how we can be praying for you.


God bless you,

Shaun Hover

Fashion Week Outreach NYC- More short stories.

Backstage I was able to tell dressers about Christ and encourage their lives. It even got to a point where I was telling one dresser about Jesus and then another came up to me and asked "Will you tell me how you became a Christian?" I got to help them, love them, remind them of their value, comfort hurting hearts, and laugh with them when things got too stressful. It was amazing to see God use seemingly simple interactions to deeply impact lives. .

The models are young, far from home, and exhausted- we were able to pray for them, encourage them, and lavish love on them. One girl said she had been modeling for years and can remember only 4 dressers that cared about her in all of those years, my friend Jen was one of them. One model said she hated New York because no one was kind to her, except me. A male model was speechless when he realized that one of our girls was genuinely listening to him. He was shocked, he said that he is very alone and no one ever listens to him. My friend was able to spend time listening to him as he shared about his lifestyle that was made up primarily of drinking and modeling. He opened up about his dream of having a home one day. By the end of the show he thanked her from his heart for taking the time to treat him so kindly. It meant the world to him.

I was staying in the same building that P. Diddy lives in, so after praying for him for a few days I decided to buy him a Halmark card, write an encouraging note in it, and drop it off at his office across the street. I was assured that he would get it.

I met many people in the lobby that I was able to pray for and encourage with the love of Christ. At one point we were in line standing behind a woman that had met me in the morning, she didn't realize we were behind her, but she was excitedly saying, "There are Christian models here! They are praying for me!" Overall everyone we met was really open to share about their lives and their desire to see God work in them. One of my friends from our team, Kayla Sanders, led a girl to the Lord after spending the day praying for her, sharing with her, encouraging her, and reminding her of God's love. Such an awesome story!

One gorgeous woman was next to me in line. She was from Mexico and her classy husband was clearly a man of power. I can't remember who he worked for but it was apparent that he was wealthy and extremely successful. At one point he had stepped away from the line and I asked the woman how I could be praying for her. We had been talking already and she knew I was Christian so it was the perfect time to ask. She was both surprised and incredibly grateful. After remaining quiet for a bit she began to get tears in her eyes, she said that her husband works all the time and she was wondering if I would pray that her marriage would work out.

I met Tyson Beckford and told him I'd be praying for him. I attempted to meet Justin Bieber and Usher as well, but there were too many screaming girls in the way for that to happen, so I just prayed for them.

Fashion Week Outreach NYC

Karolina.

Every week we pray for people in the industry. I have their photos and their names printed out in a little packet and every Friday my friends and I pray.

Karolina is one of the models we pray for. The beautiful 27 year old Victoria's Secret model has been covered in prayer since my last Fashion Week outreach in February.

Jen and I were preparing to dress for Chado Ralph Rucci but we were quickly hustled into another show that was about to begin and still had lots of models who hadn't been changed yet. As soon as I walked in I saw Karolina's name on the board of models and knew God was going to do something awesome. Sure enough, a few minutes later, I was helping to put a gown on Karolina herself! I was praying that the crowd of people around her would leave so that we could talk. Within a moment the crowd dissolved and it was just Karolina and me.

I touched her arm, "Excuse me, Karolina?"
She was texting on her cell phone but she leaned towards me to show that she was listening.
"My name is Jessica and I have been praying for you by name and by photograph every week since February."
At this point she was shocked, she stopped texting and looked at me in wonder, sweetly she asked "Are you sure you have the right girl?"
"I am completely sure."
Still in wonder, "Why are you praying for me?"
Excitedly I told her, "Because I am struck by how much God loves you and I know He wants you to know that. I will keep praying for you."
By now she was looking forward as if to take it in, then she asked, "So... you... are praying for me.. so that I.. can share that with people?"
I was smiling now, "Yes, that's exactly it!"
She stuck out her hand toward me, "I'm Karolina"
"I'm Jessica"

Within minutes I was shuffled out of the room and back into the original show I was supposed to dress for, as I was leaving the room she shouted, "Goodbye Jessica!"

Fashion Week Outreach NYC

"A truly beautiful woman is one with a heart that is fully alive."

Favor. the Reem Acra show.
We were backstage every day. Chosen for our "training and experience". Aside from being a 23 year old girl who dresses myself everyday, I had neither training nor experience. The others who were dressing the models backstage were students who completed a course on dressing at a Fashion Institute, but my friends and I were only there because God opened a door.

The amount of favor that we had from the designers, dressing supervisors, style team and models was nothing short of miraculous. During one show my friend Jen and I walked in after praying for God to use us. We appeared confident, though inside we were extra nervous because we were both very new to this. Upon arrival the dressing supervisor that we had been working with excitedly told the other supervisor, "These are my favorites, put them with the fastest changes." Jen and I knew this was a promotion, but it also required more of God's grace because we were dealing with magnificently elaborate gowns. Being with the fastest changes meant that we would have about one minute to change our model out of her first dress and shoes and into her next outfit while making sure nothing was torn, wrinkled, broken, or improperly tucked in.

After we received our "promotion" the designer came in and we talked with her and encouraged her while photographers took lots of pictures of her. It was obvious she appreciated us and trusted us because she handed off her puppy (who was basically her only child) to Jen and told her to look after it. That part was hilarious because our supervisors didn't want Jen touching the gowns while she was holding a dog, but everyone was too afraid of upsetting the designer to force Jen to put the dog down. So we all just stood awkwardly for about ten minutes while Jen loved on the puppy.

Eventually the models came in and we were thrilled to see that two of them were girls we had worked with before. These girls were so precious and really loved us, which is unusual because typically the models don't relate very much with their dressers. My model was stressed because she was having visa issues and was scheduled to work in London, but was not able to get into the country. That opened the door for me to share stories about how God has come through for me- I even shared a specific story of how He provided a visa for my sister to go to India just 3 hours before our flight was scheduled to leave. My sweet model listened intently and concluded, "I need to pray!"

Jen's model became very vulnerable as well and asked if Jen would pray for her skin, because she had an infection on her face due to a makeup artist using an unclean brush while applying her foundation. Jen was able to really encourage her heart.

The other model that Jen had worked with before learned that she was too big for her dress and they would have to cut it so she could get into it, and then sew it onto her. That could have been devastating for the model but instead she was comforted by Jen standing next to her reminding her that everything was okay and she was doing great. It was exactly what she needed.

After the show we were given special thanks from the supervisors, designers, models, and stylists for making their experience more pleasant. (again this is unusual because we are just dressers..) We were so grateful for the evidence that our presence there really made an impact.

Day 1 of Fashion Week Outreach

The day began with Emma and I waking up and venturing to New York City to meet the others at the American Bible Society. I thought that today I would be trained to dress the models and that I would begin working backstage at the shows tomorrow. I was quite wrong.

The other girls came into ABS and informed me that they needed more dressers at a show that was about to begin, so my training happened through doing. After prayer and Starbucks we headed over to Lincoln Center to work the show. I was ready for God to move.

My first miracle was the fact that the girl I was dressing with happened to be sweet, and SO gracious to teach me everything I needed to know. She even let me talk to her about the Lord and pray with her before we began.

Then an older, well-dressed couple came over and began swooning over the clothes we were about to adorn the models with. The woman was probably in her 60's but looked much younger. She was so elegant. When I told her she looked beautiful she opened up about how nervous she was to be there. She was married to the chairman of the company that was putting on the fashion show. We are from the same city so we talked quite awhile about life & I was a real encouragement to her. She was excited I was a missionary and actually thrilled that my purpose at Fashion Week was to reach out to the models. Her husband came over and he was loving it too.

I connected with several models and was able to love on them extra. They are so young and vulnerable, and though they appeared uninterested at first, they were deeply receptive of love. They even asked me after how I thought they did and one girl came back to kiss my cheek and thank me for praying for her. I shared my testimony of being healed of an eating disorder to one of them and she listened to all of it, clearly comforted to hear of God's power.

There was another dresser from Ireland that was terribly stressed because the gown she was working with was a nightmare. Pieces were falling off and it had to be sown onto the model. She also had many people directing her, all saying completely different things and insisting she do it that way. Throughout the experience I was able to help her and invite her to come spend time with us at ABS. I am hoping to see her again.

As I left the show I connected with a make-up artist who was also incredibly encouraged by God's love and thankful that I would talk with her.

Finally, my FAVORITE STORY- I had seen this gorgeous Malaysian model that I recognized from when I was here in February. Back in February I had snuck backstage a few times in an effort to speak with the models, and she was one that I encountered! During the brief interaction with her I had told her I would be praying for her and that I was a missionary, having just returned from Thailand. She was a sweetheart but our time together was so short, today when I saw her again I felt pretty confident she would not remember me. But as I asked her this afternoon where she was from she said, "You are Jessica, the one who was praying for me right?" Ahhh!! She remembered me! Then after her show I found out she went over to the American Bible Society and connected with Leah, the leader of Models For Christ NYC!

"If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men." -1 Corinthians 15:19

I am connecting beautifully with the other people here to minister. They are so faithful, their love for God is overwhelming. It reminds me how important it is that I waste my life for Christ. Nothing else matters. Not my appearance, not money, not success, not my size, not my reputation... it's meaningless... the only thing that is truly worth living for is the one who counted me worthy of dying for. That is what I am doing here, I am wasting my life. I didn't go to college. I got married too young. I don't have a big house. I don't get paid. There is not a lot the world can look at me and say is successful (by the world's definition of "success"), I would be a good example of someone who is wasting her young years. Especially if I died and foud out Jesus was not real to begin with. Then I would be a real waste!

But that is how I want it. I want to get to the end of my life and have wasted it in completely on Jesus, wasting all I am on Him, and others, and you. And ultimately in all of that.. I trust that in losing my life for His sake, I will find it.