Missions Update
Dear family, friends, and
supporters,
This semester is going well in a
lot of different ways. I just got back from a weeklong trip to Dillingham,
Alaska for spring break missions. God was amazing while we were there,
revealing himself through His creation. We worked at a Christian Youth Center
and ministered to the kids there every night. We also did a lot of projects for
the director, Brian. We went out on three different days to cut firewood and we
chopped and stacked enough to finish out the spring so they don’t have to spend
money on heating oil. We did some small maintenance projects like painting and
vinyl repair and a lot of organization and cleaning. In addition to skits and
food and sharing our testimonies, we were able to pour into Brian’s kids.
Dillingham is a small village isolated from the rest of the world, as many
places are in Alaska. It is accessible by the sea and by airplane. It is center
of the road system in that area for a few other villages. Almost everyone there
commercial fishes during the summer and during the rest of the year they live
off of what they earned or whatever they can collect from the government. There
are a lot of poor people there, however, and the spirit of alcoholism is
rampant. Brian uses the Youth Center as a positive hang out place where he can
share the gospel with kids and show them the love of Christ. Many of the kids
that come don’t have a very positive home life and Brian is someone that they
really trust. I learned a lot on this trip. We had a great team and I really
loved getting to know them. We spent a lot of time in prayer and in the Word
and I really love sharing God’s love with people.
There
are several things that God has been showing me recently in my walk with Him.
First, He is continuing to show me that He will not share His glory with another.
I have found that everything I do has to be with the right motives (God’s
glory) to be successful. Even down to becoming free from sin in my life, I have
to be doing it that God might be glorified through the victory and not for some
other motive such as self betterment, or the benefit of others around me. As
good as those motives are, they come back to me and ultimately my glory and God
can’t have that.
Another thing
that God is teaching me ties into this. I was listening to a sermon the other
day by Mason Perry and he described the blessing and protection of God as an
umbrella. In the torrents of life’s rains, no one wants to leave that umbrella
and no one in their right mind will walk outside the umbrella to purposefully
get torrentially soaked. Yet, many of us live our lives exactly like that and
here is why. God’s laws are also an umbrella. In fact, it is the same umbrella
as His blessing and protection. If we step away from the umbrella of God’s law
in any area of our lives, we are going to be outside of his protection and
blessing in every part of our lives. We can’t really walk part way under; we
are either out or in. We cannot serve two masters. For me this is really
challenging. There are lots of parts of my life that I am easily able to surrender
to God and submit to his authority. But, there are other areas such as finances
or even my thought life that at times I honestly have a hard time wanting to be
in submission to His authority.
Those
are just some of the things God has been showing me. As I said earlier, this
semester is going well. As far as grades go, my midterms this semester were the
best they have ever been. I am now living off campus and God has really blessed
me with very affordable rent and I am adjusting well to the changes and
differences of living off campus. I am now officially on my own, renting my
first place and it is a pretty cool feeling. Flying got off to a slow start due
to scheduling and maintenance. But, I am fairly sure that I will finish in time
for the summer semester. I am all registered for the summer semester and next
fall. I am still waiting for word from Dynamic Aviation about a possible
internship there this summer. I am really hoping to get it.
As
things move on I am also getting a better idea of where I will be headed after
school. When I graduate, I won’t have quite enough hours to get on the mission
field right away and I will need to start paying some debt. So, the tentative
plan is to find a place that will let me fly right seat at first as a second in
command in a small twin engine plane. That way, I can build some time and get
some experience. Eventually this place would let me work into a position as
pilot in command of a single engine plane like a 206. There are a few places in
Alaska that do this and there is an opportunity in Botswana to do this as well.
A maintenance job would be maybe on the side and this would all be just a step
to getting onto the mission field full time. God has provided so far for me and
I know that He has a plan; I just have to be faithful in the little things and
keep trusting Him.
I want to thank
you all so much for supporting me in prayer and financially. I am really
blessed by the people that God has put up around me here at school and back at
home. Below are some prayer requests that I have and ways to contact me. If you
want to continue receiving updates please let me know and if you know of anyone
else that would like to receive updates please let me know and give me contact
information. God bless you all and let His glory be made known!
Prayer Requests
·
Twin engine flying
·
Strength to finish the semester strong
·
Financial provision
·
Consistency in daily devotions and prayer life
·
Clear direction for after school
Address:
Joshua-Luke O’Connor
2100 S. Mobberly Ave.
CPO# 1171
Longview, TX 75607
Email:
Cell:
903-431-1283
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/jlkocmissions
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