Santa Monica Summer Project. What is it? It’s where 72 students and 28 staff come together for 6 weeks to be trained in how to share the gospel. Santa Monica is one of the BEST training grounds for such a task because there are people here with various cultural, religious and political backgrounds. This diversity helps us train students in how to learn about others’ world views and beliefs before they enter in with the gospel message.
          Each week we would have messages, trainings and special speakers come in to equip us with how to listen, how to engage others in conversation, how to ask good questions and how to share the gospel in a way that can really connect with each individual person. The gospel is so profound and can be related to every person everywhere if we are willing to learn how to connect it to each person with where they are at.
        We taught students the difference between a systematic approach in sharing the gospel and a narrative approach (more story telling). We taught them how to learn people’s world views and see how to bring the gospel to people in light of their world views. We taught them how to use surveys, various tracts but also how to get into a conversation without any tools at all. In just those 6 weeks we got to share the gospel with over 1,500 people and saw 7 people put their faith in Christ.
          As we’d go out sharing, I began to make relationships with some “regulars” who hung out on 3rd street. Linda was one of those relationships. She’s been living on the streets for 10 years. Beautiful eyes that would look up at me and share in her optimistic way how she has hope each day because she knows God is with her. Every time we’d hang out, I’d get to pray for her. Her biggest prayer was that she’d get into a shelter so that she’d be safer at night. It humbled me to see her joy and faith in Christ even though each day she didn’t know if she’d have food to eat or if she’d be safe.
            One of my passions is speaking and I had three opportunities to speak to the students this summer. I opened our summer with giving a talk on having a heart for the lost. Then I taught the women on how to have victory over temptation. And the last week, I got to speak with another one of our staff, Jon, on God’s heart for the World. Jon served in Israel for two years and I served in China so it was a wonderful contrast to show God’s heart for the nations whether there is spiritual fruit or not where we serve. Twenty-Seven students indicated that they want to serve overseas in some capacity which is a huge blessing!

 Divine Appointment on the 4th of July

      Seeing God move never gets old. Being a part of a divine appointment with another person never stops being a privilege. Seeing the lostness of people and the power of the gospel never ceases to amaze me. And that’s what happened on the 4th of July…
       After church, we held a huge outreach on Venice Beach. We had a “graffiti” board where people could answer questions like, “What is your purpose in life?” and “Why is Jesus so controversial?” We also had a display of photos that we called “Soularium”. As people looked at the pictures we would ask them how they saw these photos relating to their souls and their spiritual journeys.
          As I was walking up to the booth, I saw a girl and asked if she’d ever seen a graffiti board like this one. She said no. I realized she had an accent and when I asked her where she was from she said China. I told her I had studied there for 2 years. Her name was Ling Ling, and as we continued to talk in English and Chinese. We learned that she is from the SAME CITY in which I served in! It was unbelievable! She was here visiting for just a few months and we just “happened” to meet. I couldn’t believe it! I knew it was a divine appointment!
                As we started to talk about spiritual things it was clear she’d never heard of Jesus (even when I shared about Him in Chinese) and that the gospel was completely foreign to her. I was able to use Chinese characters to explain the gospel to her and after an hour of making sure she understood my words, I asked her to reflect back to me the story of the gospel. She was able to explain why Jesus came, why He died and what she needed to do to have a relationship with Him. She prayed with me right there on the crowded beach!
               To be honest, I couldn’t stop crying after she walked away. I am truly honored and humbled to be used by the Lord. Please pray for Ling Ling as we go through follow up via email while she is still here in America. And PRAISE HIM for this new life!

Sharing the Gospel with Ling Ling

COMING TO ARIZONA!!!! I am heading to Arizona to connect with family, friends, and ministry partners and would love to see you! I am in town July 17-August 2 and will be visiting Phoenix and Tucson as well. Please let me know if you would like to connect one on one while I am in those cities. Please pray I meet new people who would like to join my ministry team as I am in need of raising $500 in monthly support before the month of August.
DESSERT GATHERING: I will be hosting a dessert at my parents house on July 31st at 7pm if you would like to come. Please RSVP @ 520.458.2151 (Lydia and Wes Ashman). 2232 Piccadilly Ct. Sierra Vista, AZ 85635 I would love to see you there! Thank you for all of your prayers and support! Holly Ashman

                                                             The United Arab Emirates is one of the richest countries in the world. They are known for their manmade islands and the tallest skyscraper in the world.  Dubai felt like a reenactment of the city of Babel in the Bible. They built a tower to “make a name for themselves”.  Now, in economic crisis, this luxurious city is full of skyscrapers and condo’s that look finished on the outside, but are empty within. I couldn’t help but consider how this appeared to be the case for each Arab I met. Make up, fine jewelry and fashionable sunglasses, but inside, empty and lost.

    I spent 5 days in Dubai to debrief the team I’ve been shepherding in the Middle East this year.  5 stinters came together to prepare for re-entry into America.  We spent time reflecting and celebrating what the Lord’s done by writing praises on post-it notes and sticking them to the window.  We talked about how they have changed in the past year and how America has changed as well. They are not going back as the same people or headed to the same family or friends as the one’s they’ve left. We talked through what they learned as a team by working together and had a time to discuss challenges and hardships as a team. We ended our days with a time of encouraging each team member and praying for them as they are “sent out” to their next locations.

     We asked them to summarize their year in a few words and here is what they came up with:

• Karisa: challenging & compelling.
• Tony: challenging, refining & fruitful
• Janell: captivatingly mysterious & unveiled
• Joey: challenging, laborious, reveling
• Jordan: hard, tilling the soil, hopeful

      Praise God that the team saw 4 men receive Christ this year in a country where there were NO known believers when they arrived. Both Jordan and Tony will be returning next year to further the ministry there.  Karisa and Janell will be returning to our region to help lead our campus ministries at USC and U of Hawaii.  Please pray for these 5 as they transition to new places and new teams.

Santa Monica Summer Project…Here I come!!!

     May 28-July 9th I will be with over 100 staff and students from around the country in Santa Monica, CA to train them in how to share the gospel.  Just yesterday one of our students, Anna, whom I’ve not yet met, said “Hi” to me on facebook.  She said that one of her friends wanted to hear the gospel, but she’d never shared it before. I explained to her how to use the “Knowing God Personally” booklet all through “chatting” online and she then went and shared the gospel for the first time with her friend, Lainie, and she accepted Christ! I love seeing how teachable these students are and how we can use the internet to train and encourage students we haven’t even met before! Thank you for praying for me as I lead this group this summer!   

Holly.Ashman@uscm.org   520.234.8276 You can donate at: give.ccci.org

 729 S. Knott Ave #206 Anaheim, CA 92804

Dennis Rainey and me

“Trusting God with the Mission Before Us…”

This past weekend 200 staff from California, Arizona and Hawaii gathered together in Forrest Home Camp. This is the very place where Dr. Bright gave his life to Christ many years ago.  It was a privilege to have Dennis Rainey, and his son, Samuel Rainey, join us for our time together. Dennis is the founder and president of Family Life Radio, which began in 1976 and now has over 9 million listeners worldwide.As the program coordinator for the retreat, I had the honor of getting to know Dennis and Samuel on a more personal level.  I was deeply encouraged by their walks with the Lord as they shared the extreme trials their family has had to walk through.  What most encouraged me was how their foundation in times of pain and sorrow has always been the Word and the promises of God.  I believe it is their faith in these private family challenges that have platformed them to be great men of faith, influencing millions of people and families with the message of the gospel.

Holly

Personally their messages impacted me as they exhorted us to remember how God has used us and is continuing to use us.  He mentioned that in Psalm 106, the sin of the Israelites started with forgetfulness, not rebellion. When they forgot His works, they began to forget God altogether! I NEVER want to forget God or His mighty works He’s done in me and through me.  I have served the Lord in full time ministry for 11 years (this is my 90th prayer letter) and yet I am prone to believe the lie that I am not making a difference.  Please pray for me that I will remember the Lord in all things and that I will see that no matter what role I play (program director or shepherding teams and leaders) that I will see how He is using me to change lives and make an eternal difference!

Debriefing a team in Dubai

May 17-23 I will be flying once again to the middle east, this time, to the Unite Arab Emirates. There I will be debriefing the team that I went to see last semester in a closed Muslim country. We chose to meet in a neutral country where the women could take off their head coverings and burka’s and feel free to walk around without worrying about being followed.  Debriefing teams after they have served overseas for a year or two is one of the highlights and privileges of my job. Please pray for me, that I will have wisdom as I walk into yet another culture and help a team process their year and prepare for re-entry into America.

Praise the Lord…

• We’ve seen 168 college students come to Christ so far this year!
• We are sending 46 graduating seniors overseas to 9 countries for the next year.
• We have 61 full time interns and 15 part time interns joining us on the field next year.
• We have 12 new staff joining us full time this summer.

Prayer Requests…

• I need to raise $3,300 in special gifts for my summer missions trip to Santa Monica where we will be training 86 students and 20 staff how to share their faith and grow as disciples of Christ. Please pray that the Lord will provide all of this my May 20th.

Thank you for your prayers and support as I shepherd and lead our region here and around the world.

Holly.Ashman@uscm.org

520.234.8276

729 S. Knott Ave #206 Anaheim, CA 92804