Posts Tagged ‘Emily Gryder’

Giving Thanks for Our Intern: Emily Gryder

Posted: November 24, 2012 in Christianity, Ministry, Missions, Prayer, San Diego, Team Members, Tijuana
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Emily with Edgardo Avila pastor of the Spanish church

Emily with Edgardo Avila pastor of the Spanish church

Our intern, Emily Gryder has served with us since July 7th. She will be leaving this coming Friday. The Lord has used her to connect with many of the Hispanics that we are working with. We are so encouraged by how Emily has served.

We started the summer with our first intern, Zach Lutz. Zach did a great job as well, and he opened the door for many of the things that Emily is now doing.

Zach and Emily started up a weekly VBS for neighborhood kids in City Heights. Emily has kept that going with an after school kids club.

Another area where Emily has really helped us is with our English as a Second Language (ESL) classes. She has been our main teacher over the last several months. Oliva, who I wrote about in a recent post, came to Christ through Emily opening the door with ESL classes, and then inviting Oliva to the Spanish service.

Emily has also befriended and discipled, Hilary, one of the youth in the church.

She’s had numerous experiences such as building a home for the homeless, building a church, feeding the poor, etc. You can catch up on more of Emily’s exploits on her blog: Chosen by Grace.

Emily with Oliva and Elizabeth

Emily with Oliva and Elizabeth

I’m amazed that Emily has been able to do so much at her young age. She’s still a teenager herself.

Dawn and I believe in the importance of building into young people, and giving them opportunities to serve in missions. Their time on the border gives them a broad and unique experience.

We do give thanks for Emily, who’s been living with us since mid-September. When Emily first came Ray and Michele Call spent a lot of time with Zach and Emily. We are grateful for all the time and energy they gave to both of our interns. We are also thankful for Tom and Debbie Steller, who provided housing for Emily until we arrived.

Join us in thanking the Lord for Emily, and praying for her as she heads back to her family in North Carolina. Pray also that the Lord raises up more workers as we work to see a renewed San Diego-Tijuana border.

In His Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeOnTheBorder.org

Amazing Grace – Oliva’s Testimony!

Posted: November 20, 2012 in Bright Spots on the Border, Christianity, Church Planting, Ministry, Missions, Prayer, San Diego, Tijuana
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Emily, Oliva, Elizabeth and Dawn (from left to right)

Emily, Oliva, Elizabeth and Dawn (from left to right)

It was so good to hear Oliva share her testimony in front of the church this past Sunday.

She was looking for a job in a Spanish newspaper. In the process of looking for some job opportunities she saw something about an English class. That perked her interest. She decided to go.

Our ESL team which includes Ray Call and our intern, Emily Gryder received Oliva with open arms. She felt very welcomed. Then Emily invited Oliva to a Bible study on Friday nights. Oliva thought, “Church on Friday night?” She wasn’t sure about it, but she decided to go check it out.

Our intern, Emily has done a great job over the last several months. She really has loved on and ministered to Oliva.

While at the Friday night service Oliva met Edgardo Avila. He is the pastor that leads the Spanish-speaking ministry. Edgardo’s wife, Elizabeth was very warm to her. Before you know it, Oliva was attending church on Sunday mornings!

She said she grew up in a church, but she really didn’t understand the gospel message. The Lord used the ESL program and some of the people connected with it to lead Oliva to Christ. She understood the difference between knowing about God, and having a relationship with God. She put her faith in the risen Lord.

Now Oliva prays for her grown children and prayers that they will come to church, and get to know Jesus. Let’s join her in prayer that her children and grand children will come to a saving knowledge of Christ! One of Oliva’s daughters has already come to visit the church. God is indeed on the move!

In His Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeOnTheBorder.org

God Opens Hearts Through ESL!

Posted: October 25, 2012 in Bright Spots on the Border, Christianity, Church Planting, Ministry, Prayer, San Diego
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Oliva - God is doing a good work in her life

God is doing a good work in Oliva’s life

The Lord has done a good work through our Friday evening English as a Second Language (ESL) classes. Two woman have come to faith through our ESL ministry. Last spring an international Korean college student, Tesory, came to Christ and was baptized into the church.

Recently, Oliva, a Mexican woman started coming to ESL classes. She learned about the class through a newspaper ad.

As a part of the class, Ray Call leads a devotional time in English to encourage their English and to share the love of Christ with the students. Our intern, Emily Gryder is also involved in ESL. She has been teaching the classes while she’s been with us. Emily took the initiative to invite Oliva to the Spanish service we have on Friday evenings.

While Oliva was at the service she met Edgardo and Elizabeth Avila who lead the Spanish ministry. Elizabeth explained the gospel message to Oliva, and she gave her life to Christ.

Oliva has been faithfully attending Harbor Mid City on Sunday. The Lord is drawing her nearer and she is considering making a deeper commitment to Christ and his church.

It’s so encouraging to see the Lord at work!

A huge need we have now is to build up our teaching team. Emily has done a great job, but she is leaving in about a month, on November 30th. We are talking to some other friends about teaching English. Pray the Lord raises up a good team, and that he continues to use ESL to be a blessing to the City Heights community.

In His Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeOnTheBorder.org

Emily Gryder, Our College Intern Arrives!

Posted: July 9, 2012 in Christianity, Church Planting, Ministry, Missions, San Diego, Team Members, Tijuana
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Dawn with Emily Gryder

Dawn with Emily Gryder

Emily Gryder arrived from North Carolina this past Saturday! We are thrilled to have her. She has a sweet disposition.

She is majoring in Spanish at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hills. While she is on the border she will have the plenty of opportunities to practice her Spanish.

This first month she will be staying with our good friends, Tom and Debbie Steller. On Sunday we celebrated Tom’s birthday. It was a fun time, and it gave Emily an opportunity to get to know the Steller family.

This is a new endeavor for Emily. It’s the first time she’s traveled west of Michigan, although she has been on missions trips out of the United States before. If I’m remembering correctly, she’s been to the Dominican Republic.

Dave with Zach Lutz

Dave with Zach Lutz

Our other intern, Zach Lutz has been with us for over a month, and he’s been a great help. He told me the other day that one of the most challenging things for him was leading a Bible study in Spanish. I applaud him for attempting this feat, because he’s still learning Spanish. It reminds me of when I first tried to lead Bible studies in Mexico City in the summer of 1987. The Lord used that summer in a powerful way in my life. My prayer is that Emily and Zach will also have an experience that will impact their lives in a profound way for His glory.

I pray they will be infected, in a positive way, with a heart and passion for missions for the rest of their lives.

One of the things that has been encouraging, apart from the ministry experience that our interns are getting, is that it has allowed us to do more. They bring with them youthful energy and more manpower. We are thankful to have them.

We continue to pray that the Lord will raise up workers to serve with us here on the border! Our interns may end up being some of those that answer the call. That is more of a long-term goal, but we also pray that God will bring some people to us quickly. We look to you, Lord Jesus. Hear our prayer!

In His Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeontheBorder.org

Summer Interns – Energy, Curiosity, Learning & Ministry!

Posted: July 6, 2012 in Bright Spots on the Border, Christianity, Church Planting, Ministry, Ministry Partners, Missions, Prayer, San Diego, Team Members, Tijuana
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Dave, Zach and Ray

Dave, Zach and Ray

Dawn and I have enjoyed getting to know two of our interns over the last week. Zach Lutz, a student from Moody in Chicago, and Lindsay Anne Dransfield a student from the University of Maryland in Baltimore are with us.

Zach has done a great job plugging in, and helping where needed. One of the major ministries he’s involved in is leading a Bible Study with a Hispanic small group in Escondido. This is quite an accomplishment, since Zach is still learning Spanish. Today is Zach’s birthday! He’s the big 21! Happy Birthday, Zach.

We are going into Mexico today, and we will be with the Spanish church tonight, so we celebrated Zach’s big day on July 4th. The Call family made a cake, and we had a wonderful time celebrating independence day and Zach’s birthday on the same day!

Dawn with Lindsay Anne

Dawn with Lindsay Anne

Lindsay Anne is only with us for a few days. She is a photo journalist. While she is with us we have her taking a lot of pictures and video of the city, and people.

As an added bonus, a friend from Colorado Springs, Scott Kracht has been visiting us.

On Saturday Lindsay Anne leaves and Emily Gryder joins us. Emily is coming out from North Carolina.

I love the youth, energy and curiosity these young adults bring with them. It’s unbelievable that our interns are all about the same age as our kids. Actually, David, our oldest is a little older than all of them. But of course, we aren’t getting older just our kids are! 😉

Today we will go into Tijuana and Rosarito to meet with pastor Leo Nevarez. My prayer is that we can encourage him and his wife, Gloria. I’m also hoping to introduce him to a ministry that builds houses for impoverished people. This ministry isn’t too far from his church, so it could be a great opportunity for the church to reach out in love to the people in this community. I believe by bringing these two ministries together that the Lord could greatly bless each of them. I pray they will also be a blessing to the community!

In His Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeontheBorder.org

Zach Arrives!

Posted: May 23, 2012 in Christianity, Church Planting, Ministry, Missions, Prayer, San Diego, Team Members, Tijuana
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Dave, Zach and Ray

Dave, Zach and Ray

Our first intern, Zach Lutz arrived tonight, Wednesday evening. He’s kicking off a three-month internship with us. We are thrilled to have him. We also look forward to meeting Emily Gryder later this summer. She will arrive on July 7th. Our son, David Diaso Jr. will work with us towards the end of the summer and through the school year.

I just met Zach for the first time, but from what I can tell of him he is a friendly and relational guy. He enjoys connecting with people. It will be exciting to see how the Lord works in and through Zach this summer.

Zach first started coming to the border on short-term projects when he was 12. God has used these trips to deeply impact his life, which is one of the reasons he chose to do this internship with us.

Pray with us that he has a great experience, and that the Lord uses his time with us this summer in a powerful way. He has an interest in ministry, and we know there is a huge need for workers!

In His Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeontheBorder.org

We Move Forward on Our Knees!

Posted: April 29, 2012 in Christianity, Church Planting, Journey, Ministry, Missions, Prayer, San Diego, Tijuana
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God Uses Prayer

One of the core values for our team is to be people of prayer. We recognize that we are dependent on God. We depend on the Lord and His grace to see fruit in our lives and ministry (John 15:5). It’s equally true that we need a team of people committed to prayer standing with us.

The church marches forward on her knees.

Prayer is of transcendent importance. Prayer is the mightiest agent to advance God’s work. Praying hearts and hands only can do God’s work. Prayer succeeds when all else fails.  — E.M. Bounds

Join us in prayer for the following requests:

  1. David Jr. is in the middle with the blue shirt

    This Sunday, April 29th Cuco Moya will make an announcement to the Spanish-speaking congregation at Harbor Mid-City about the plans to launch of a new Spanish church in the next year.

    • This is a big step for the church. The mother church is still growing itself, so although it’s exciting on the one hand, there are also some huge challenges in getting this work off the ground.
    • Pray that those in the congregation understand, and get behind the new work.
    • Pray for wisdom for the leadership of the mother church as well as the new outreach.
    • This is a very ambitious advance, so we definitely need God to be at the center of it.
  2. Continue to pray for the sale of our house.
    • We are having an open house this weekend.
    • We trust the Lord for His timing with our move.
    • Pray for our family in this move. We are excited, but there are some big changes ahead for all of us.
  3. Pray for our college interns that will be working with us over the next few months.
    • Zach Lutz will be with us from May 23 – August 18.
    • Emily Gryder will be working with us from July 7 – November 30.
    • David Diaso Jr. will also be working with us; his dates are partly dependent on our move.
    • We are praying that our internship ministry will grow, and that it gets off to a great start.
  4. We are getting very close to being fully funded. Pray that the Lord will provide and direct us to the individuals and churches that He is calling to join our team. You can give to our work here…
  5. I am recruiting new people to join our BEAMM ministry team. Pray with us that the Lord draws godly and gifted people to join us.
  6. God’s healing touch:
    • Ray Call has kidney stones and Colitis.
    • Mario & Silva’s baby boy, Daniel has some health concerns they are having tested.
    • David Diaso Jr. has a torn meniscus.

  7. The Diaso Family

    Family needs:

    • Hannah is graduating from high school on May 12th.
    • David and Jonathan are in finals this week.
    • David will be driving back to Colorado from San Diego in about a week.
  8. I will be in San Diego for our work from May 2 – 8, and then from the 19th – 25th.
  9. I will be in El Paso and Juarez from May 14 – 17 for BEAMM leadership meetings.
  10. It is an exciting time. It’s a busy time. We need wisdom, direction, and strength from the Lord.

Thanks for joining us on this journey!

In His Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeontheBorder.org

Interns, Video & Prayer

Posted: April 19, 2012 in Christianity, Church Planting, Ministry, Missions, Prayer, San Diego, Team Members, Tijuana, Video
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One of our summer interns, Zach Lutz just posted a short video interview to help us to get to know him better. It also gives us a better idea of how to pray for him, and who we are praying for. We are enthusiastic about Zach joining us in a little over a month.

Here’s some of the ways you can pray for Zach’s experience. Zach mentions on the video that you can find more prayer requests and updates on his blog site: zalutz@blogspot.com. You can also pray for our other interns, Emily Gryder and David Diaso Jr. in the same way.

  1. Pray for Ray and Dave as we plan out Zach’s schedule.
  2. We are still working on finding the best housing situation for our interns.
  3. That they will raise up all their funds before they arrive on the field.
  4. That the Lord would help us to work together and be unified.
  5. That God would use us and the experience to build into the life of our interns.
  6. That the Lord will touch the lives of many through the ministry of our interns.

I’d like to ask prayer for some other needs we have that aren’t necessarily related to the interns.

  1. Ray and Dave at Border Crossing

    Ray and Dave at Border Crossing

    Ray Call had to go to the hospital in Mississippi Wednesday morning, because of the pain he was experiencing. They found out that he has kidney stones. He’s been having stomach problems for a couple of months, this is part of the reason. It maybe the main reason. Pray for his healing.

  2. The Call family has had nonstop problems with their van and car since October of 2011. I think this is an attack from the enemy, seeking to discourage them as they serve the Lord, and help us open a new ministry on the border.
  3. We’d appreciate continued prayer for our ESL classes. We began registration last week, but with all the rain the turn out was lower than we had hoped. It may take some time to build the attendance. Pray that more show up this week, and that the Lord uses this outreach for His glory.

Thanks for your faithful prayers!

In His Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeontheBorder.org

Introducing Intern – Emily Gryder

Posted: April 11, 2012 in Christianity, Church Planting, Journey, Ministry, Missions, Prayer, San Diego, Team Members, Tijuana
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Emily Gryder

Emily Gryder one of our summer interns

Last week I introduced one of our interns, Zach Lutz. The Lord has blessed us with two other interns, Emily Gryder and David Diaso Jr. Today I’d like to highlight Emily.

We give thanks to the Lord for giving us such amazing interns. It is surprising in some ways that we already have a growing internship ministry, since our team is still young. We are thrilled that we can build into their lives. As they serve the Lord will use them to touch the lives of people they meet and minister to on the border.

Emily Gryder is from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She is the oldest of one brother, and two sisters. She is presently majoring in Spanish and minoring in Biology at UNC Chapel Hill. The Lord has given her a love for missions, and given her opportunities to go to the Dominican Republic with her youth group. Emily has a long time boyfriend, named David.

One of the ministries that she has enjoyed is children’s ministry. She’s been involved in outreach to children and tutoring elementary students.

Emily recently wrote about her experience in missions, and her opportunity to serve with BEAMM.

“As some of you my know, I have loved missions for a long time. This was first kindled at a young age and grew dramatically during two short-term missions trips to the Dominican Republic in 2008 and 2010. I am writing to let you know about another exciting opportunity that I have and to invite you to partner with me in it.”

We are glad that the Lord is working in Emily’s heart, and preparing her for the chance to minister with us this summer and fall. She brings excitement and energy to our team. You can learn more about Emily and her journey through her blog: egryder.blogspot.com. She will be with us from July 7th till November 30th.

We believe that our interns are an answer to our prayers. Join us in prayer that Zach, Emily and David will have an outstanding experience with us. Continue to ask the Lord of the Harvest to raise up laborers to work in and reap the harvest.

Have big dreams and don't live on the safe side!

Dream Big - don't live on the safe side! Come check out BEAMM San Diego - Tijuana

Speaking of the need for workers. This Thursday, April 12th, I will be at Covenant Seminary in St. Louis presenting our ministry to the seminary students. Pray that it goes well, and that the Lord would work in calling some to join us on our journey on mission with Jesus to serve on the border.

Ray Call and I would also appreciate your prayers for the ESL (English as a Second Language) launch this Friday, April 13th. Ray has been working hard with our friends at Harbor to promote and invite students. We are anxiously awaiting what the Lord will do through this outreach.

Thanks so much for praying for us, and for our growing team.

In His Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeontheBorder.org

The Joy of Mobilizing for the Kingdom!

Posted: March 3, 2012 in Christianity, Church Planting, Journey, Ministry, Missions, San Diego, Team Members, Tijuana
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Ray Call

This past Thursday my BEAMM teammate, Ray Call, and I went to Westminster Seminary in Escondido, California to meet with students. We had a wonderful opportunity to share about what our vision is for reaching out to Hispanics on the border. We provided pizza for lunch, which is definitely a draw to hungry seminarians.

We had a great time! I love to share the stories about how the Lord has led us to the border, and how He is already working and changing lives on the border. I get energized by the youth and enthusiasm of a younger crowd.

I find that it gives me great joy sharing about what we do, and the vision the Lord has given us for the bi-national city of San Diego – Tijuana border. It encourages my soul when new friends respond to what God is doing. I always enjoy sharing how God is working and how He’s called us. Usually I am doing it to raise funds for our ministry. It is a nice change to be able to share these same things to encourage and motivate people to serve with us.

I don’t know what God will do. I don’t know who He will call to join us, but I do know that Jesus told us to pray for workers. My wife likes to tell of a plaque her parents had that said, “pray, but row to shore.” I think that applies here. We pray for workers, but we also ask people to join us.

Emily Gryder

Emily Gryder one of our summer interns

Just in the last few weeks we’ve had one new intern, Emily Gryder decide to work with us from July to November. We also have an awesome young lady from Birmingham, Alabama that is beginning the process to come on with Mission to the World, and to join our team. Pray with us as she goes through this process that God will make His calling even more clear to her. The Lord is raising up workers. Praise Him!

Back to our experience at Westminster seminary. I was so encouraged to see how well Ray and I worked together, as we shared our stories. I love working on a team. Thank you, Jesus for raising up workers and building our team. It reminds me that He is ultimately the One that causes the increase.

In His Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeontheBorder.org