What a treasure to get to photograph this family over the years. Such a dreamy couple to shoot engagement photos for, which you can see here, and now what a joy to spend a day at the Dallas Arboretum with all our kids and put such a fun family photoshoot in the books.
Getting to walk down the aisle wearing a family heirloom was incredibly special.
Shooting Brandon’s senior photos felt like a model shoot and we joked about submitting a portfolio to GQ. Proud of this young man—almost called him a kid since I’ve known him since he was 2! We found a bunch of fun locations in the Dallas Arts District and Klyde Warren Park. Thanks to big sister Sarah for her Pinterest boards and planning, this couldn’t have turned out so well without her.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow! So many exciting things are happening; I have a lot to catch you up on!
On May 5, Joshua asked me to be his bride. I said, “yes, thank you!” Our wedding is drawing close on August 5. Joshua moved down from Pennsylvania to Texas in June, and we have been getting to know each other better in person as we prepare for marriage. Up to that move, our entire courtship and part of the engagement had been long distance. Seeing each other in person nearly every day is so different than being separated by 1,400 miles, but of course wonderful.
We see marriage as more about God and his purpose than it is about us. Joshua and I are united in our love of Jesus, and we desire everything in our lives to flow out of that first love. Joshua has a heart for evangelism and ministry, and right now senses that he is in a season of preparation and equipping. He fully supports me serving the Lord at GFA for this season, and right now our plan (as we submit it to God and earnestly seek His leading!) is that I’ll continue serving at GFA while he works as a personal trainer and pursues some further education. We’ll be living in the Dallas area following our marriage.
Our web team has been staying busy this summer too! We have had several part time employees or volunteers join us for different periods of time, and I am grateful to have had Clara, Elizabeth and Laura join us.
Almost everyone in the ministry has been involved in the launch of a big project called the Mission Support Team. This new sponsorship initiative now enables people all across the West to sponsor “behind-the-scenes missionaries” here at GFA. In other words, supporting the staff like me! Each of us working here at GFA facilitates the work of more than 100 national missionaries on the field, so we play a vital role in allowing the mission work to continue to function. Bringing the staff to full support enables us to do more to reach Asia with the Gospel!
Web has played a big part in this project, and you can check out the fruit of our labors at the new web area – www.gfa.org/mst!
I’m grateful for a chance to get to serve Jesus with this team and to utilize the webby world for God’s glory!
2017. What a year! It was challenging and stretching, yet full of joy.
I’m grateful for the lessons the Lord has graciously and patiently been teaching me through this last year. A song through which the Lord spoke to me last year was “Shadow Step” by Hillsong United – “I’m ready for the unexpected, ready for what You will do next.” That’s how much of last year felt, but God was there each shadow-step of the way.
And I don’t think I’ve ever done so much travelling—there was the 5-hour flight delay coming home from Florida, leaving on a road trip to Arkansas 10 hours after getting back from a week-long trip to Arizona, the July trip to Arizona/New Mexico/back to Texas, and then coming home and photographing two weddings three weeks apart. Many memories were made last year!
Here’s a glimpse of a few below.
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Throwback to a day with friends and sisters at the Tyler Rose Garden in Tyler, Texas, and The Foundry Coffeehouse (one of the best coffee shops in East Texas!)
This month I wanted to share a story from one of the street children’s homes we support. I got to visit this home for girls about a month after it opened in 2013. What an answer to prayer it was to see how God went before us to open this home!
At the time I was there, 6 girls had been rescued and were living there. Hearing their stories was heartbreaking. But seeing the hope and joy they had, now having a safe home to grow, heal and just be kids—how incredibly beautiful.
In a little while you’ll read the story of “Ashmita”, a young girl who was rescued from an abusive situation where she was forced to labor as a child.
Video by Elicia Christofferson
But first I want to share a special memory from my visit to this home. The girls loved having their photos taken (it seemed like every kid we met did!) The three youngest ones, including Ashmita, would crowd in front of my camera and say “Chapati!” each time I snapped a photo—just like American kids would say “Cheese!” for the camera. (Chapati is Indian flatbread similar to a tortilla.) I secretly got a video of those precious girls too. :)
Reposted from Gospel for Asia
Photo from Gospel for Asia
It burned. Ashmita hurled her exhausted young body into the kitchen. Her eyes stung as she cried out in agony. Chili powder washed off her small cheeks in a red stream as she anxiously tried to recover from the new form of abuse. But the pain in her eyes couldn’t compare to the pain and confusion found in her young, tender heart.
Ashmita doesn’t remember very much about her life before her father died. In fact, she hardly remembers her father at all. The only thing she remembers is he was ill and couldn’t eat spicy foods, and one day he was gone forever.
After his death, Ashmita and her mother moved into someone else’s house to do domestic housework. After a time, Ashmita’s mom sent her to live with another family as a servant. This became a living nightmare for Ashmita.
From morning to night she washed dishes, mopped floors and sometimes washed clothes. When she couldn’t do her work, they beat her legs with canes and slapped her.
“The house where I was staying . . . I was very much ill-treated,” Ashmita shared. “When everybody [went] to bed after food at night, the house owner used to watch television. While watching the television, she used to ask me to massage her legs. If I am tired, if my hands are hurting, she used to beat me and ask me to massage her properly. One night, when I was massaging her leg, I was very tired and sleepy, and while massaging, I slept off. She went to the kitchen and brought some pepper powder [chili] and put that pepper powder in my eyes.
“Once my mother called me,” Ashmita remembers. “She asked that [woman] whether [I was] around. Then she told lie to my mother, and she replied that ‘Ashmita is sleeping,’ while I was sitting with them. While she was talking to my mother, she motioned me not to speak and be quiet and continue the work I was doing.”
Photo by Elicia Christofferson
Ashmita’s mother was of no comfort to her daughter. When Ashmita was allowed to talk with her mom over the phone, the young girl cried and pleaded with her, asking her to take her out of the home she lived in. But her mom told her to do whatever they said. Even though her mom was not involved in her life very much, Ashmita missed her terribly and longed to escape the life she was living.
When the local authorities found out about Ashmita’s situation, they rescued her from child labor and brought her to a GFA-supported home for abandoned and at-risk children. Now precious Ashmita is safe from abuse, pain and hopelessness. No longer forced to labor, she lives like a child should.
Photo by Elicia Christofferson
Ashmita plays with other children her age, bathes, receives daily meals, learns songs and dances with the other girls at the home. She attends school and likes it! She especially loves the staff who care for her, and the other girls who help her with her studies.
“I like this place so much; I like all these didis (older sisters). They work hard for me and for all of us,” Ashmita shared. “I like this place and I don’t [want] to leave this place and go to any other place or orphanage because of the love and care that we get here.”
Ashmita is thriving under the love she is receiving—love every child longs for.
Best of all, Ashmita has learned she is safe in the arms of Jesus. He saw her tears and knew the pain she felt in her heart. By His kindness and love, He brought her to this home. His love is found in the staff who daily look after and nurture the children who have been abused, abandoned, misplaced and forgotten, girls just like Ashmita.
“The Lord watches over the strangers; He relieves the fatherless and widow.”—Psalm 146:9
Photo by Elicia Christofferson
As I was thinking about the brokenness in the world during Gospel for Asia’s all-night prayer meeting, I wrote this, then we sang this song.
There are people with actual problems.
There are children enslaved in labor.
Men who break down ships for a living.
A toxic, dangerous, illegal task.
There are people groups hated by everyone.
Like the Rohingya, without a home.
They are pushed aside, abused.
Is there anyone who cares for them?
Innocent, scared children,
Lied to and forced to beg.
Literally maimed or blinded
For more profit, they said.
There’s the woman who thinks she’s worthless.
I’m a sex doll, is what she thought.
I’m no better than this, it’s what I deserve.
But of truth and hope she knows naught.
Jesus. Hope of the nations.
Jesus. Comfort for all who mourn.
You are the source of heaven’s hope in earth.
Jesus. Light in the darkness.
Jesus. Truth in each circumstance.
You are the source of heaven’s light on earth.
In history, you lived and died.
You broke the chain.
You rose to life!
You are the hope, living in us.
You are the rock in whom we trust.
You are the light, shining for all the world to see.
You rose from the dead,
Conquering fear.
Our prince of peace,
Drawing us near.
Jesus our hope, living for all who will receive.
Lord we believe.
My sister Clara and I did an engagement photoshoot for Savannah and Elijah in Martin’s Mill, Texas in November 2016. The very first time I saw this land (especially the pine tree-lined driveway) I wanted to do a photoshoot. I’m so glad we got to take photos of Savi and Eli! May the Lord bless your marriage and your life together.
Enjoy this sampling of photos.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. Apart from me, no one comes to the Father.”
In Jesus alone is the gift of eternal life, given to us freely but purchased by His own blood on the cross.
When we put our trust in Him, we are redeemed, we are set free, and we are adopted into the family of God!
Mom and I have been talking about the beautiful thing it is to be part of the family of God. Even when we meet complete strangers who also love Jesus, you can sense that we share the Spirit of God in us. (And my Mom and I experienced that this very morning… at the IRS office! God works in amazing ways.)
There is such joy in knowing the Lord and walking with Him. And it is His love in me that compels me to love the world like He does.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” – John 3:16-17
When I glimpse the incredible love that God has for the world – and I understand how many people have yet to hear the name of Jesus – my heart breaks.
More than 2.7 billion people in the world today (about one out of five) have never heard of Jesus. They’re without salvation and hope, for both this life and the next. And that means that they are on their way to hell.
It is chillingly clear in Scripture that those who do not choose Christ will not inherit eternal life.
I was struck by the analogy that I recently heard about this. If you are planning a trip to Disney world, and you’re packing, planning your road trip, and start driving there, you’re on your way. A few things might come up that deter you for a minute, but you are still on your way.
If it is true that those without Christ are on their way to hell, like the Scriptures say, how does that impact how I live today?
This is a sobering and challenging thought that the Lord is teaching me through right now.
I’ll close with some lines from a song that has been playing in my head, ‘O Come to the Altar’ by Essential Worship:
Are you hurting and broken within,
Overwhelmed by the weight of the sin,
Jesus is calling.
Have you come to the end of yourself,
Do you thirst for a drink from the well,
Jesus is calling.
O come to the altar,
The Father’s arms are open wide,
Forgiveness was bought with,
The precious blood of Jesus Christ.
Leave behind your regrets and mistakes,
Come today there’s no reason to wait,
Jesus is calling.
Bring your sorrows and trade them for joy,
From the ashes a new life is born,
Jesus is calling.
Oh what a Savior,
Isn’t He wonderful,
Sing hallelujah Christ is risen,
Bow down before Him,
For He is lord of all,
Sing hallelujah Christ is risen.
Read more: Elevation Worship – O Come To The Altar Lyrics | MetroLyrics
Elicia Wetstein 