Goals Accomplished, God Moving us Forward in the Power of His Giftings.

Greetings from Galway!

January was another amazing month. It was extra special, because it marked the official date of Chris’ graduation from the Advanced Leadership Training program through Christian Churches Ireland (AGIreland). It was also the month we had to say goodbye to our family & friends after a wonderful 2 months back refreshing & renewing. Not to mention, God has really already renewed our passion & drive for the work He has spoken to us for the past many years.

This is our 7th year in Ireland (In August it makes 8 years!). Can you believe it? In the past 7 years we’ve seen God do so much! He has provided for all of our needs, & we’ve shared stories in the past how He has come through. It never, ever gets old. We have seen many hearts come to know Jesus, & we have watched countless youth come up through the Torch youth program. We have baptized numerous youth & young adults, watched them grow in their faith, & in turn go out & reach others for Jesus. It’s been a very, very fulfilling 7 years.

But we want more! We want to see more people come to know Jesus. We want to see strongholds break in the city center, we want to see the lost be found, & the blind see. We want to see the miracles & we want to see even more than what Jesus did on the earth, as He has promised us. We want to continue to live out this verse in our lives: “Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’” Matthew 28:19-20

Our prayer is also this: “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” We want bolder prayers for bigger victories!

I’d like to share a new anointing that I’ve seen on my husband these past few months. He has really become more confident in who God has called him to be here in Ireland, & I’ve seen him really grow in his ability to preach & speak into people’s lives by the power of the Holy Spirit. If any of you heard him speak while we were back home for a visit, you too might have noticed it. This has all come from the confidence that the courses he took. Even though it was very challenging for us as a family for him to be driving to Dublin every day, working a full work week, & doing papers, preaching & juggling being a daddy & husband, it was worth it. Because he has truly broken through to the other side!

A dear friend of ours has written a book, & in the front page he signed his name, & also said, “Thanks for not growing weary in well doing.” Galatians 6:9. I have to be honest, we were growing wearing in well doing. The visit back stateside gave us the rest we needed to gain our strength back & to also understand new giftings that the Holy Spirit has given to us to work in. Chris has been empowered to share the Gospel by the leading of the Spirit with complete strangers. And I’m proud & amazed to say that God used him to lead a waitress from Texas Road House to Jesus, & a lad that he shared a few video games with online to Jesus. Two strangers lives are now changed because of this new anointing that God has placed on his life! Praise God!

God has also started using me in words of knowledge & encouragement. It’s grown my faith in these past few months by leaps & bounds, because I’ve often struggled with believing that I am hearing from God sometimes. But recently He has spoken many words to me for other people in my prayer times, & even to a couple strangers. Each time I’ve shared what I’ve felt the Holy Spirit has spoken to me, it’s been a blessing to me to see that it’s right on target for that person’s life. It’s been such an encouragement, & I am thankful God has given me this new gift to work in. I am just beginning to explore it really, but I’ve been amazed to see what He has done already!

I say all this because I know we are in a new season. I’ve felt better in the past few months than I have for the past 2 years. I know that God is doing something big that is going to take a long time to accomplish here, & it thrills both of us. We deeply long to reach out to the community of Galway. We want to reach out to the homeless, the broken, the oppressed, the suicidal, the rich, the poor, the hungry. We literally want to reach out to everyone who doesn’t have a relationship with Jesus. We hope to make a difference by doing the verse that God has put on my heart for this year. “However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.” Acts 20:24. This is our goal now for 2020.

Thank you to every single one of you for the love and support you have given to us over the past 7 years. Your prayers, your investments of time, & your generosity has made all of this possible. We know God has put us on your hearts to help us continue this work and we are so thankful for all He is going to do in the future. Thank you for standing with us. Thank you for being a part of this journey! All our love from Galway! ~Larena

 Prayer Requests

We would be honored if you would pray with us concerning:

Please pray for the new gifings that God has given us to work in recently. Pray that they develop so we can be even more useful on the missions field.

Please pray for the drop in center, and for the transition that we feel God is puttng on our hearts from youth work to pastoral work city center.

Please pray for God to send a leader who would be accepted by the Elders of GCF to take over Torch and lead it.

Please pray for us as a family, for the provisions and protection that is so needed as we continue plowing through the darkness to establish the light of Christ in Ireland!

Support Information

If you would like to team up & contribute to this important mission, please make checks out to:
Hope Ireland Missions

229 W. Exchange St

Crete, IL 60417       (Chris & Larena Johnston on the memo line)

FOR ONLINE GIVING

Simply go to: www.hopeirelandmissions.com & click on “partner.”