We have been in California for about three months now, which is longer than we planned, but it has been a huge blessing! The host family, whose property we have our trailer parked on, is extremely warm, friendly and generous. They have allowed us to stay as long as we need to and have not even allowed us to pay for utilities.

We have done a lot of work to prepare for the second leg of our travels: we moved into our new trailer, cleaned all our possessions thoroughly from mold exposure before bringing them into the new trailer, we sold our old trailer and SUV, and installed solar on our new trailer. All the while, I continued to work heavily on the development of Host Israelis and Planet Zula technology to get ready for the pilot launch this Summer.

We have two sets of co-workers in Temecula, CA: the Ryans and the Crawfords. We have become good friends with them and been able to see them a lot during our time here. They have young kids with whom Ari has really enjoyed playing. Often living on the road is lonely, not knowing anyone around, so it has been nice for Carissa and Ari to have friends to hang out with while I have been busy with work.

Carissa’s chronic illness has flared up several times on this trip and the trailer has been a perfect refuge on the road. It allows us to go wherever we need to be for work, but never too far from home. God has faithfully provided for all our needs – physically, financially, and emotionally – and we are so grateful for all these blessings.

Through all the uncertainties of living on the road – Where will we stay? When will we go? Who will we meet? Where will we find the right groceries to accommodate Carissa’s needs? – we can trust our heavenly Father who always takes care of us. As we walk God and do the work of our Father, He goes before us and prepares the way for us, and we never lack our necessities.

“Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For unbelievers seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.“ (Matthew 6:31-33)

As always, thank you for partnering with us in prayer and even more so on this crazy adventure for the Kingdom.

Love,
BJ, Carissa, and Ari

When we got our first travel trailer in 2020, we watched a lot of YouTube videos to learn how to renovate and fix up our old trailer. That is how we found Our Lively Tribe – a husband and wife who renovate trailers as their profession. Who would have known that 2 years later, we would end up buying one of their renovated trailers!

We placed a downpayment in October 2021 with an estimated pickup in December. But the trailer was not completed until March 2022, due to a life-threatening health issue with their son. During the months of waiting, we were able to develop a relationship with Travis and Erin, and they were impressed by our patience and graciousness in understanding their situation.

After we moved into our new trailer, we noticed a water leak from the shower plumbing, which flooded our living room. This required taking apart the shower to fix the leak, and pulling up the vinyl plank flooring in the living room and bathroom to dry up all the water so that mold would not grow. Travis felt terrible about this and dropped everything to help me do all this work at no charge, even though it wasn’t entirely his fault.

During the days Travis spent working on our trailer, we were able to have more conversations with him. And on the last day, Travis and I paused work for almost 2 hours because we were immersed in spiritual conversation!

Travis said he had an “encounter with Jesus” a few years ago, and started pursuing Him, but he did not understand the Gospel and had not yet read any part of the Bible. At one point in our conversation, Travis asked me what I meant by Salvation, “what does Jesus save us from?” So I got to explain the entire Gospel to him, and exhorted him to read the Bible! And later in the day, Ari told Travis, “Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and rose back to life again.”

We were reminded that “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28) God can use even the worst circumstances for our good – which is not comfort or worldly success, but God furthering His purpose through us. And we are so grateful that God could use a flooded living room to spread the Gospel!

At the end of this last day of work, Travis told Carissa, it was worth all of this work just to have “the best conversation about God ever!” We will continue to have a relationship with Travis and Erin, and there will be more opportunities for further conversations. Please pray for the Salvation of Travis and his family.

Thank you for continually praying for us and our ministry, we appreciate you.

Love,
BJ, Carissa, and Ari

As we have been traveling around the country these past months, I have continued in my role as technology lead for Host Israelis and Planet Zula. Unfortunately, we ran into some trouble with the outside company we hired to develop the web and mobile apps for our network. They suddenly became unresponsive, and did not complete the work which we paid them to do. This left us in a bind where we were unable to use the apps, and unable to receive any support from the original developers. We were so close to completion, but this was a huge setback. We were forced to transfer the apps to Chosen People Ministries’ servers so that we can develop, maintain, and have complete control over our technology. During this transfer process, several things inevitably broke, which caused a lot of errors in the system; and no one on our team knows enough to fix it ourselves.

Fortunately, when I told this predicament to a good friend of mine, who is a web and mobile app developer, he dropped everything to help us out! He is currently working on diagnosing the issues, and fixing all the errors in our systems. Praise God for this huge provision! Please pray that we can get the apps back up and running and have the technology ready by this Summer. Our goal is to launch a test run of this hospitality network this year, but that depends on the apps being ready.

In the last year or so, it feels like we have faced a lot of push back from the enemy as we develop this network. It is tempting to feel discouraged, but God reminded me of James 1:2-3, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”

I am so encouraged that God is using these trials to strengthen our faith and grow our perseverance! Pray not that God would take away these trials, but that we would remain strong in our faith and our walks with God through these trials. Pray that we can honor and glorify God and be a testimony for the Gospel through these circumstances.

We are also encouraged to keep pressing on because we know that you are supporting us through your prayers. Thank you for continually praying for us and our ministry, we could not do this without you.

Love, 

BJ, Carissa, and Ari

In January we embarked on a road trip with three purposes: to raise our support, promote Host Israelis, and share the Gospel with Israeli travelers we meet along the way. 

So far we have traveled about 5,000 miles, met with pastors from dozens of churches, and gained dozens of new prayer partners and 2 new financial donors. Many pastors and churches that we met with have expressed interest in supporting us financially, but these things take time. Pastors have to meet and pray with their teams and evaluate budgets, so it could be months or years before some of these churches are able to support us financially. Please pray for God to provide full funding for our ministry quickly. Many churches and individuals have also expressed interest in becoming hosts with Host Israelis or in learning more about the network. Praise God, He provided a truck for us to tow our new travel trailer (our “homey”, as Ari calls it), which we moved into 3 months after we anticipated.

We originally planned to return to Virginia in April. However, due to delays in getting our trailer, learning more about the Israeli travel season, and our desire to promote Host Israelis in more locations; we have decided to extend our trip through August! The Host Israelis vision for the U.S. is to have over 1,000 hosts on our network all over the country. Wherever Israelis might visit or travel through on their way to another destination, we want to have Christian hosts available to provide hospitality and a positive witness of the Gospel. Staff with Chosen People Ministries are based in and regularly travel to many cities all over the country. They will be able to recruit hosts in all the major cities. However, Israelis also spend a lot of time visiting National Parks, which are often far away from bigger cities where CPM staff regularly travel. 

Because of this we plan to spend April through August traveling to many of these locations to recruit hosts. We also hope to meet Israelis in the parks with whom we can share a meal and the Gospel; however, we expect it will be difficult to meet Israelis in the crowds of hundreds or thousands of visitors. Please pray for divine appointments and boldness to share the Gospel.

As always, thank you for partnering with us in prayer!

Love in Messiah,

BJ, Carissa and Ari

Full transparency: when we started out on our cross-country trip, we knew we would not be able to afford the gas and high cost of staying in RV parks or campgrounds with full hookups for the duration of this trip. We can boondock (camping with no water or electric hookup) for a day or two at a time, but it’s rough and not a sustainable option for us long term. It’s inexpensive to stay with friends, but we have few connections in this part of the country. Knowing all this, we stepped out in faith, trusting God to make a way.

Enter the Church! We have been calling churches in the areas we plan to stop, and asking if we can park in their church parking lot for a night or longer. Each time we have done this, there has been a church who says yes! Not only are they glad to let us stay, but several times, they have had full hookups available and have had others stay in an RV on the property before us. Through the gift of hospitality, our family in Messiah is enabling us to stay at low to no cost as we travel across the country. This also provides us great opportunities to share about our ministry and why we are traveling with churches who might be in a position to partner with us. We are encouraged and thanking God for His provision in this way!

The first two weeks of our trip, we traveled at a pretty quick pace to get out to California and move into our new rig before focusing on fundraising and ministry. Because our rig wasn’t ready yet, we slowed down and spent time in New Mexico and Arizona before heading to California, where we will spend time with friends and co-workers, and pick up our new trailer whenever the renovation is completed.

As always, thank you for partnering with us in prayer!

Love in Messiah,

BJ, Carissa and Ari

Due to the ongoing pandemic and subsequent lockdowns in Israel, we had to postpone the launch of our pilot program for Host Israelis to the Summer or Fall of 2022. This feels like a setback; however, we know God makes no mistakes and wastes no time in fulfilling his plan. This “setback” has given us extra time to work on further development and polishing up our system before the pilot launch.

Our team is currently creating about 20 training videos, each less than 10 minutes long, on topics ranging from understanding Israeli culture to handling unmarried and same-sex couples. These training videos will be a great foundation to equip our hosts to love and serve Israelis through hospitality in a culturally-sensitive and God-honoring way.

Please pray for our team as they edit and publish these videos, that we would be able to produce excellent videos and that God would use them to equip our hosts to love and minister to Israelis in the name of Jesus.

We left Virginia at the beginning of January for our 2022 RV road trip! We traveled down to New Orleans, then across the Southern border to Arizona, where we are currently. We will spend a couple weeks in Arizona connecting with churches. We also need to buy a pickup truck in Arizona before we can go get our new travel trailer in California.

We will spend some time in California moving into our new rig and visiting with friends and co-workers, and then continue on with our travels. We plan to visit National Parks and other popular Israeli destinations in order to connect with churches in those areas to recruit hosts for Host Israelis.

Please continue to pray for us as we travel, that God would provide full funding for our ministry and a pickup truck for us, that He would provide many encounters with Israelis with whom we can share the love of Jesus, and that He would connect us with all the right churches to partner with us in reaching the 40,000 Israeli young adults that travel the world every year.

Thank you for your prayers and support, we are so grateful for your partnership in reaching Jewish people for Messiah.

Blessings in Him,
BJ, Carissa and Ari

The last few months have been a pivotal season in our lives and ministry, and we are so excited to tell you what God is doing!

As you may remember, we discovered mold in our house earlier this year, and decided to move out for our health. We sold our house in August and moved into our travel trailer. Originally, we planned to buy another house in Lynchburg, VA and to only live in our trailer until then. However, after living full time in our RV for several months and traveling around to visit friends, churches, and supporters in Missouri, Colorado, Illinois, and Wisconsin; we realized we really enjoy living in our mini home on wheels with the freedom to travel around for ministry work!

God has not given us peace about buying another house in Lynchburg, so we have decided to continue full time RV living. Instead of buying a house, we have upgraded to a slightly larger travel trailer which will be more suitable for us to live in long term. God willing, in about 2 weeks, I will be driving to California to pick up our new rig, or as Ari calls it, our new “homey.”

In September, we finished the initial development of the software technology for Host Israelis – our Israeli hospitality network. The next step in the development of this network is to recruit and train over 1,000 Christian hosts in the U.S.

Our goal is to travel around the country to national parks and other popular destinations where we think Israelis will be and visit churches in the area to promote Host Israelis and recruit hosts for our network. This will also allow us to gather data about where Israelis are traveling in the U.S., to help us better develop our network. 

Despite Israel’s travel restrictions, and fewer number of Israelis traveling abroad, it is our prayer that God will give us many divine appointments with Israelis and use this season to forward His Gospel in whatever way He sees fit. 

In January 2022, we plan to begin this tour in Florida, then travel to Texas, then Arizona, Utah and Southern California. Please let us know if you, your church, or someone you know might be interested in meeting up with us to hear more about this ministry.

We appreciate your prayers for safety as we travel, and for God’s provision as we begin this new phase of ministry to reach Israelis for Messiah.

Blessings in Him,

BJ, Carissa and Ari

Joseph* is one of many thousands of Israelis who took six months off, after completing his military service, to travel in New Zealand. After hearing the Gospel many times during his travels, he finally recognized the truth that Jesus is the promised Messiah of Israel. 

Joseph was so excited about his new faith in Jesus! He was on fire for Jesus and couldn’t wait to get back home to tell all his family and friends about the Messiah, but this unfortunate new believer was met with harsh opposition. His parents were furious when they heard the news, locked him in his room, and had their rabbi brainwash him back to Rabbinic Judaism.

This is, sadly, a true story that we never want to happen to another Israeli who decides to follow Jesus. The Christian life was never meant to be lived alone, but in community with other believers for encouragement and discipleship. For this reason, we created “Gospel Encounters” – a feature in our Host Israelis app – which allows Christian hosts to record Gospel conversations that they have with their Israeli guests. 

Before developing this technology, we had no way to consistently track and follow up with Israeli guests whom we reached during their travels. Using this app, we are able to sort and organize our Israeli guests according to their Gospel Encounters. When our guests get back home after their travels, we can see who had the most Gospel conversations, who was the most open to the Gospel, and even who made a decision to follow Jesus. 

Now we can have our staff in Israel connect with these seekers and new believers, invite them to Bible studies and other events, and connect them with other believers or a church in their hometown.

This is just one of many important and exciting aspects of our Israeli hosting network! Mitch Glaser, the president of Chosen People Ministries, said this could possibly be the most important work that our 127-year-old organization has ever done. And I agree! God’s plan is that all Israel will be saved (Romans 11:26) – and He could use this hospitality network as a powerful tool in His plan of redemption for Israel!

Please continue to pray for our team as we recruit and train our first hosts for the pilot program to launch this Fall. We sure do appreciate your prayers and support.

Blessings in Messiah,

BJ, Carissa and Ari

*name changed for privacy

Praise be to God, we have been making progress on several fronts!

PROJECT 500
Our goal is to raise an additional $2,000 in monthly support so that we can switch to full time ministry and spend an additional 500 hours every year reaching Jewish people for Messiah. We have been working hard to connect with friends and churches from all over, share our vision, and invite others to partner with us. God has provided 11 new financial partners, totaling $635 in monthly giving! Our fundraising project is 31% completed, but this has been difficult and often discouraging. Please pray that God would raise up more financial partners for our ministry, and provide the finances we need to continue this work He has called us to do.

HOST ISRAELIS/PLANET ZULA
We are almost finished with the technology for CPM’s Israeli hosting network! I built the website for Host Israelis (the Christian host-facing side) in June, and we are now finishing up the development of the Planet Zula (the Israeli-facing side) mobile apps. You can check out the website hostisraelis.com, and learn more about our network there.

HOLY DAYS STUDY
Because of the huge success of Carissa’s Bible study last semester (475 women joined!), she and her team are repeating the study this Fall! This women’s study is on the Biblical Holy Days that God ordained (Leviticus 23), how they each point to Jesus, and their significance to believers today. Any women interested in joining this study may contact Carissa at [email protected].

PERSONAL UPDATE
In case you missed it, our house is full of mold which might be making us all very sick, so we’re moving. God graciously provided a buyer for our house, and we closed on August 25th. We have not yet found a new house, and are currently planning to live in our trailer until we do. Please pray for us to trust God with all of this, and wait on His timing as we look for a mold-free house and pursue healing.

Thank you for your continued prayer and support for us and our ministry, we sure do appreciate you.

BJ, Carissa and Ari

Thank you for all your prayers for our Israeli hosting network! The progress is slow, but we are moving right along! I built the website for Host Israelis (the Cristian host-facing side) in June, and we are now finishing up the development of the Planet Zula (the Israeli-facing side) mobile apps. You can check out the website hostisraelis.com, and learn more about our network.

Host Israelis is a published group of Israel-friendly believers who host Israeli travelers in their homes at no cost to their guests, motivated by a desire to bless Israel through their sacrificial service and to provide a positive witness of the Gospel. The website will allow believers to learn more about our network, and apply to be hosts.

Planet Zula is like Airbnb for Israeli travelers, except that it’s free, and all the hosts are believers who want to bless Israel. The app allows Israelis to see a map with pins of all our hosts’ locations around the world, and to set up their bookings.

We are now in the process of recruiting and training a core group of 50-60 hosts in strategic cities around the U.S. for a pilot hosting program to begin in November 2021. Next year, we plan to open up hosting to the public, so that you and your friends can apply to host Israelis in your home!

Our goal is to have over 1,000 hosts on our network to share the Gospel with over 10,000 Israelis every year! Our desire is for the Salvation of Israel (Romans 10:1).

Please pray with us:

• For our leadership team, as we continue to face trials and opposition from the enemy. 
• For the end of COVID and that the vaccine would be effective, so that Israelis will start to travel again before our launch in November.
• That God would raise up and equip the right hosts for our pilot hosting program.
• That the right Israelis would hear about Planet Zula, have wonderful experiences and conversations with our hosts, and tell all their friends to stay with us.
• For me and the other leaders as we recruit and train hosts.
• That God would use this network powerfully to reach Israelis with the Gospel, and that thousands would come to faith in Jesus as their Messiah.

Thank you for your continued prayer and support for us and our ministry, we sure do appreciate you.

BJ, Carissa and Ari