April Update 2023
"Christ has risen! He is risen indeed!" This is my favorite truth to harold around Easter time. I know this is a bit late, but Happy Easter to you all. Shaun, our teaching pastor, has mentioned in his sermons to “continue to live in light of the resurrection”, even if Easter has passed. This is a fantastic truth to be reminded of. I hope that the season was a reminder of The Father's deep, deep love for us, that he would send his Son to redeem us. May He get the glory for all we are in Him.
Updates
Ministry
The month of April was full! Many things were going on to thank God for. First and foremost was our Easter conference and outreach. We hosted 13 people from over the world to come and serve with us for Easter for about two weeks. Throughout that time, we had excellent teaching from a Pastor based in Tennessee and outreach training from Richard Sharp, who is from Atlanta. We spent two days in the city and street evangelizing through the One Wish method and inviting people to our church events.
We got to have amazing conversations with our community and see people consider giving their lives to Christ. It was a fantastic time of camaraderie and growth. The second significant event was the rap concert. Around 70 students from the community and city attended this Christian concert. One crucial contributing factor to my faith early on was Christian rap. Connecting with these artists and seeing them share the gospel lyrically with these students was a blessing. I have spent time with some of them and hope to begin helping them grow deeper in their faith.
The most important event of the week was the easter service. It was a blessing to gather with the body of believers on Resurrection Sunday. We had over 300 people attend this service, some being people we met on the streets! After the service, we put on an Easter Egg Hunt that I was in charge of creating. It was a fantastic experience! I wish I had taken pictures but I was busy running the event. We hid 900 eggs and put on a carnival with eight different stations. It was such a blast and wonderful to gather with some many people. All in all, that you for your prayers. I felt them and felt like everything worked out to the glory of God. Here is our Easter Sunday picture :)
Youth ministry this month was great. Our students fantastically served the church by running the carnival portion of the Easter Celebration. It was beneficial and significant to see the students working for the Lord. They did an incredible job! We have two students give their life to Christ on Easter. That is a huge praise, and we thank God for calling them out of their sin and into his marvelous light. We had a bowling event for the sports ministry outreach this month. We had a few more new people show up, which is always great!
Our boy's bible study has finished the book of Jonah and now has turned a page. We are diving deep into learning how to overcome sin at this age. The group has been together for almost a year now, and I am excited to see them grow deeper in this way. Please pray that they will continue to be transparent and vulnerable with one another!
Family
After such a busy season, we decided to take a small two-day cruise to Sweden as a family. Spending such quality time together and reconnecting as a family was fun. We enjoyed a great meal and saw a military march during our time in Sweden. The highlight was seeing Lukas follow Noah's steps on the dance floor. :)
A second family highlight is getting to grill again :) With the sun being out, a friend and I threw some patties on the grill and enjoyed the outdoors. This was nostalgic and reminded me of you all. So, the Byrd family misses you all.
This month, I got the joy of reliving the moment that started this missionary journey to Finland. In 2021 on a mountain in Tenessee, I met these two guys whom God used to get us to Finland. Most of you know the story (if you don't check out this video), which was God's sign to us that it was time to do ministry in Finland.
Well, here we are, two years later, praising God for his sovereignty. It was just a joyous moment for us three to be gathered again on the other side of the world, working together to bring the gospel to Finland. My quote throughout the week was, "If I ever doubt God is at work, I should just smack myself in the face." Seeing these two men was a testimony of God's working and an encouragement to fight the good fight.
The month of May will be swamped for me. I am writing two 5,000-word papers for my seminary classes. This will keep me mighty busy on top of ending the youth year well. Please keep me in your prayers.
All is well with my bride. She has gotten the opportunity to spend some quality time with her family lately. Her family came to church on Easter. She has been pouring into a student in the youth group, and it is a blessing to see. She is a fantastic wife, rockstar mom, and a great friend :) I think she would really love to hear from you all, especially those who have spent time investing in her. Please contact her.
Noah has become a great friend to many of his peers. He is quite the social butterfly. He has started back playing football (soccer). As a dad, it is just fun to see his progress in the sport. We are grateful for the growth in his life. Please continue to pray over his learning Finnish.
Lukas is just Lukas :) He has more teeth and babbles much more. He is expressing things in his babbling; we don't understand it :) He now knows how to point and direct us to what he is trying to say. It is cute.
HEIDI AND THE BOYS ARE COMING TO THE STATES! 🙌🏾
They will be there on October 24th and return to Finland on November 2nd. I will not make this trip, but I am excited for them! The family will be coming to C3 Sunday, October 29th. Please love on the family for me. Noah has missed Houston so much, so I think this will be great for him.
#American Woe
For this AmericanWoe, you have to ask me personally, either through text or Facetime call.
*suspense......
Prayer Answered
1) The volunteer has committed to come week to week! Praise God for this answered blessing. This will help in so many ways. Thank you for your prayers
2) Easter was a success. Our team really pulled together to support one another and do our best to pull off the campaign.
Prayer Request
1) Please pray that I will work hard these last couple of weeks to complete these papers. Ministry and school are all culminating simultaneously, which has kept me busy.
2) We have a trip to Denmark coming up. Prayers for safe travels would be much appreciated.
3) Please pray for our youth graduation event in May. We are graduating four seniors and welcoming around 6-7 students. Pray that this event will be a joyous celebration of their lives and holding for those coming in.
4) Pray for Matti (Heidi's mom's boyfriend). He is having some health issues which impact the family. Pray specifically that this event would turn them all to Christ!