Tag Archives: hostel ministry

February 2017: Detour to New Zealand

More Jewish followers of Jesus live in Israel today than any other time in history. At the time of Pentecost (Shavuot) there were only 3,000 Jewish believers in the Land. Today, there are 30,000.

Though, God allowed a partial hardening of Jewish hearts, He promised that there would always be a remnant of Jewish people who are faithful to Him, (Romans 11:1-4). Our work – your work – is not in vain. Jewish people will continue to come to faith in Yeshua our Messiah. That’s a promise.

It encouraged our hearts to see this enduring truth fulfilled again in our own generation at Muchan, Chosen People Ministry’s international conference for Messianic young adults. Young Jewish and Gentile believers from across the globe gathered together to fellowship, look into Scripture, be challenged, and worship God together.

While there, we got to connect face-to-face with our ministry partner and friend, Stephen (Shmueli) Arnold, and hear more detail on his recent trip to Rio de Janeiro. There are many preparations to make before we move there as a team, as planned, in 2018. So, we are thankful for the ways that God has gone before us and for the groundwork Shmueli has laid to begin establishing a Brazilian board of directors for Chosen People Ministries, Brazil. God willing, this will be a step into further outreach to the Jewish community in Brazil.

After our Hebrew course in Tel Aviv and return to the States in March, our primary goal for this year will be growing our partnership team and raising 100% of our required monthly donations by October 2017, before we travel to New Zealand for our team’s first full backpacker season of ministry together. The three of us plan to work together at Zula Lodge, an extension of Chosen People Ministries, in New Zealand from November 2017 – April 2018. BJ and I look forward to finally working full time directly with Israeli outreach, as well as gaining experience and mentorship and further team bonding with Shmueli before we pioneer a new work together in Brazil.

As always, we covet your prayers for each piece of this extensive process, and are endlessly grateful for your faithful support each step of the way. We are not exagerating when we say, we could not do this without you.

Love in Yeshua,

BJ & Carissa

Kerstetter Chronicles: November 2016 Location Reveal

Towering 2,300 feet above the largest urban jungle in the world looms one of South America’s most beloved icons. Israelis call him “Yeshu.” Literally translated, it is an acronym meaning “may His name be blotted out forever.” Some know what they’re saying. But many don’t even know that isn’t his real name. We cringe when we hear it, and gently inform them that his mother would have called him “Yeshu-a,” (which literally means “salvation”).

But of the more than 10,000 Israelis who backpack through South America each year, about one-third will visit the city, and many of those will make the journey up the mountain to see the iconic statue, regardless of how they might feel about the man himself.

What an incredible opportunity it could be to make that journey up that mountain with them, don’t you think? To pose to them the question, “Did you know that Yeshua is Jewish?” Or, perhaps, “Did you know that Yeshua kept Torah and taught in the synagogues?” Imagine the conversations we might have!

After months of discussion, consideration and prayer as a team, and with the leadership of Chosen People Ministries, it is with great excitement that we would like to announce to you, that we have every intention of having those incredible conversations on that iconic mountain! Because we have decided that, God willing, we will be opening our guesthouse in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil!

Not only is Rio host to thousands of Israeli backpackers, it is also home to a vibrant community of between 20 and 30,000 Jewish Brazilians. With a Jewish Community Center, numerous synagogues, kosher restaurants and a small, vibrant congregation of Jewish believers, we will have many opportunities to interact with Jewish community both during busy backpacker seasons and off seasons.

We are eager to see what God has planned for our future in Rio; but while you might remember that it has been our goal to open the work in Brazil in 2017, we believe God is asking us to wait another year. Not everything is settled yet, so check our next letters to find out the crazy amazing plans in the works for 2017! Brazil or somewhere else?! We can’t wait to tell you! In the meantime, we’re soaking up every bit of studies and preparing ourselves as much as we can for the intense and exciting road ahead. We are so thankful you’re walking it with us!

Love,

BJ & Carissa

Kerstetter Chronicles: September 2016

You know the moment. When God has put something on your heart, but everything in you is trying to talk you out of it. Four weeks into our trip, exhausted, brains spinning from Hebrew studies, and ready for a break from the heat, we were running on empty and we had one of those moments. We had made plans to meet up with Yosef that evening and we knew it would be a late night, with class in the morning. We almost called off the plans, but we sensed an urgency in our hearts to see Yosef that night.

When he showed up at 10 pm with a friend we knew right away that we had made the right call. And the life-changing Gospel conversations we had with those guys that night made it clear that, once again, our steps were guided by our all-knowing God. It would have been worth it to us to make this trip for that conversation alone. And we didn’t know at the time that only three days later we would be on a plane back home. If we had ignored God’s prompting in that moment we would have missed out on perhaps the most important conversation of our trip.

Although our time in Israel was cut shorter than we planned, we know with confidence that God has a plan to use even this most tragic loss of our beloved brother and return from our long anticipated trip. Such tragedy is certainly not His will, but He allows nothing to unfold that He cannot use for good beyond our wildest imaginations. As Joni Ericson Tada wisely said, “God uses things that He hates to accomplish things that He loves.” We are eager to see what incredible goodness He will bring out of this brokenness. And we have no doubt that He will continue the work that He started through us in the conversations we shared with Yosef and his friend, and many others. Please be praying with us for their eyes to be opened; for God to use this great loss for even greater gain to His family; for our broken hearts and the new challenges BJ and I face in our personal lives, family and ministry because of it; and above all for His will to be done in all of this. Thank you for your continued support and encouragement, without which, this trip would not have been possible.

Love,

BJ and Carissa

Kerstetter Chronicles: A Very Jewish Gospel

I can still see the amazement and anticipation on their faces, as Carissa explained what it was like for her growing up as a Jewish follower of Jesus. I held my breath, thinking that any second one of the two Israeli guys or the Jewish girl from New York would get defensive or change the subject. But they looked awestruck. They didn’t say a word, or even seem to blink, as she explained the significance of a part of the Passover Seder that has stumped most rabbis for centuries, and described how clearly it points to Yeshua.

We made the perfect team. When she got stumped trying to explain the Trinity, I was excited to put my studies to good use and explain the significance of the Hebrew word, “echad,” (Deuteronomy 6:4) which means “one” but actually indicates multiple persons in one God.

God allowed us to plant many seeds like these ones in a very short time. We were blessed to see 39 backpackers come through the Shelter on the Lake during our three week stay in Argentina. Nearly all of them were engaged in spiritual conversations and accepted copies of the New Testament. Of course, closest to our hearts are the connections we made with numerous Israelis. By watching and working with the incredible team at the Shelter, we learned various approaches to starting spiritual conversations with backpackers, and grew in boldness. In the second phase of our trip, our survey of potential locations in Brazil answered all of our questions and provided all the information needed. Please continue to pray with us as we try to discern God’s will for our location.

Now that we’re back in Chicago, we are more eager than ever to visit Israel to follow up with the friends we made and learn more about Israeli culture and outreach. So, we are again praying about going to Israel this summer! Plans are in motion, and we will let you know when we know if they will work out! (Please pray that they do!)

All of this has given us renewed passion to pursue this ministry, but has also made us impatient to finish our preparations and begin this work. It is more challenging now to stay focused on what God has for us in Chicago, as our hearts long for the work God has in store for us in Brazil, but we have no doubt that this is where He wants us right now and that He will continue to bless our time here.

Thank you for your continued prayer and support. We wouldn’t be able to do this without you!

Blessings,

BJ and Carissa Kerstetter

When it Looks Like Your Missionaries Are on Vacation

It must have crossed your mind. If I were you, and I saw our Facebook posts of perfect sandy beaches, gorgeous mountain hikes and laughing groups of friends, I’d be thinking it. “Am I paying for my missionaries to go on vacation or do missions work?”

We sure wouldn’t blame you for asking. Maybe you’re more gracious than I am, because you haven’t asked. But if you in any way support our work, here’s what you should know about backpacker ministry and why it’s actually important that it looks like we’re on vacation.

Backpackers are tourists. So, if you want to hang out with backpackers, you have to do touristy things. Like go rock climbing or hang out on Brazil’s most beautiful beaches. That’s where the backpackers go, so that’s where we go to talk to them.

Backpacker ministry is living the dream. YES we will go to amazing places and do amazing things with amazing people. YES this means we will get to do what we love much of the time. YES we count ourselves ridiculously blessed. But please believe me when I say… backpacker ministry definitely doesn’t feel like vacation most of the time.

Ministry is hard work no matter where you do it. True, we’re hanging out on breath-taking mountain tops in Patagonia and sipping coconut water on Copacabana, but while we’re in those places, we’re doing much more than enjoying the view. We’re constantly on the lookout to make new friends, actively scouring the area for Israeli shoes (yes, shoes) and conversations in Hebrew. Once we connect with a couple of Israelis or other backpackers, we are working hard to build up that connection and find any way we can to naturally and strategically turn the conversation to spiritual things. This may be the coolest thing we can imagine doing, but it’s anything but easy.

We are not “missionaries.” Yes, that may be the best way to describe what we do on Sunday morning when we share in your church, but when we leave that church building, we avoid the “M” word like the plague. For us to be able to connect with these backpackers, it is absolutely critical that we present the right image to them.

So, when we volunteered at the Shelter on the Lake, we were simply that – volunteers – and part of a team who is passionate about showing God’s love to travellers. To anyone who asked, we said that BJ is studying Intercultural Studies at a college in Chicago and we were on winter break and wanted to visit our friends at the Shelter and do some backpacking in the Andes. We also freely told our new friends that I’m a Jewish follower of Jesus and we both love to talk about our God – the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – and celebrate the Jewish heritage of our faith. 100% true story. Just a critically different way of explaining it. And our public Facebook posts must reflect that story.

When we tell people that we want to open a guest house like the Shelter on the Lake, we tell them honestly that it is our passion to bless and serve travelers and show them the love of God and Jesus, His Son.
Pouring into other people – spiritually, mentally and emotionally – is an incredible and exhausting ride. I can’t think of anything I would rather do than this. It is crazy rewarding and uplifting to show the love of Jesus to people who often have only known hurt in His name, and to share with them things about their history, their Scriptures and their God that they often have never heard before. But pouring your soul out like that is exhausting. And it takes consistent committed time alone to rest and be refilled from God’s Word to keep going each day, even if you are going to the beach…

Kerstetter Chronicles: A Backpacker’s Christmas

I’ve never seen anything like it. Travelers from all over – France, Germany, Chile, Argentina and Israel – sat silently listening as BJ explained prophecy after prophecy from the Tanakh (Old Testament), and showed clearly how Jesus fulfilled each one.

Idan, an atheist Israeli guy who went climbing with us Christmas Eve, had retreated to the kitchen as if to show he wanted nothing to do with our Bible study; but it was easy to see he was listening intently through the window to all that BJ said.

His friend, Binyamin, who had reluctantly taken the Bible I offered him moments before, now followed along attentively, turning to each passage BJ read, and nodding as BJ spoke of the promise of Messiah.

I sat next to Binyamin, taking in the scene, and my eyes got teary as I thought, “This is it. I think I could spend every Christmas day just like this one.” How better to celebrate the birth of my Messiah than to tell my people about His coming and the peace and joy He has given me to overflowing? What better gift to give or receive than the joy of showing a Jewish friend that in following Yeshua I have not sacrificed an ounce of my Jewish identity, but instead I know my Messiah better and more personally because of my Jewish heritage not despite it.

It has been about one month now since that day, and I still tear up to think of the conversations we had following that study and the seeds that were planted.

BJ and I agree that this trip was everything we prayed it would be and so much more. Of course, more. God is so gracious! It was another sweet confirmation that this is truly the life and work to which God has called us.

But we won’t only remember that time through rose-colored lenses. There were definitely challenges and there will be many more. But they are challenges we will face joyfully, with the hope of introducing even one soul to Jesus our Messiah!

Your prayers and support of us make challenges easier and blessings sweeter as we feel the power and life of the body of Messiah working as one.

Thank you for making this work possible. We can’t wait to share the next steps with you!

This is Backpacker Ministry

It is the looks on their faces. The picture in their eyes. The future they might have, the person they might be, the fire that might explode from that bright, sparkly glimpse of understanding I see as we talk.

It is walking through the room and hearing bits of Spanish, French, German, Hebrew, and Mandarin as voices chatter and laugh, weaving easily and smoothly from crazy travel tales into Messianic prophecies.

It is not knowing how to answer every question and argument and knowing that the Holy Spirit isn’t limited to the power of a finely-tuned apologetic argument.

It is watching a team of believers from different countries and different backgrounds set aside differences and personal interests to further a singular, eternal goal, and supernaturally function as one body to love and serve a hurting world.

It is seeing guests soften under the warmth of that love and service offered in the name of Yeshua – whose name has long brought them images of hurt and not hope because too often throughout history it has been brandished as a weapon and used to hurt, destroy and divide, rather than nurture, heal and restore.

It is blistered feet, sunburned shoulders and grinning faces after a day of hiking or climbing the crags and pressing deep into conversations about why God allows suffering and how we can know true shalom from God’s Word.

It is the openness of a community of travelers who have already softened their minds and hearts to new experiences, different worldviews and changed perspectives – with the deeply seated hope that maybe somewhere along the way they’ll find an answer that fits all the questions.

It is a simmering pot of soup on the table and the exhausted volunteer in the corner who doesn’t clock out at the end of the day and gives more than anybody really knows, and then gives some more. Because it’s worth it. Jesus is worth it.

It is the tearful, expectant prayers of the team in the back room for every soul that steps through the door and the grace to point them to their Savior.

It is the brothers and sisters around the world interceding for those souls before the Father and praying grace and strength and victory for the feet on the ground.

It is the Spirit of God directing the steps of each traveler and preparing each heart and empowering each word of truth shared.

This is the Shelter on the Lake.

This is backpacker ministry.

This is our heart.

Kerstetter Chronicles: January

“God always hated the Jews. It is incumbent upon all Christians to hate the Jews.”

– John Chrysostom, 349 – 407 A.D.

I know, it’s only one extreme statement from some old church father most people haven’t heard of. And it’s obviously ridiculous. It can’t possibly reflect the Church now. Right? Or wrong?

Through BJ’s Holocaust class last semester, among other things, BJ and I have been blown away by the deep roots of anti-Semitism in the Church, and more disturbingly, by its not-as-obvious but definite presence in the Church today. Yes, even in Bible-believing neighborhood churches in our United States. To see it clearly is a harsh wakeup call about the state of the Church; but we are thankful for that, because it’s made us more passionate than ever about being the love of Jesus to His beloved people who have been so often persecuted in His name.

And every time you make a donation for the work, or write to let us know that you are praying, or even click “Like” on our ministry posts on Facebook, we thank God for you. Because you are light in the darkness. You are watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem, (Isaiah 62:6).

And your light came with us on December 20^th when we arrived to Barioloche, Argentina! If only you could experience the beauty in this place. We’ve already been so blessed and learned so much through various interactions and conversations with ministry staff, volunteers and guests at the guest house here. So much of Jesus’ love is poured out to each guest, Jewish or Gentile, who walks through these doors.

There are so many incredible opportunities here to share the Gospel, but one of the most exciting has been when BJ had the privilege of teaching the Bible study at our Christmas-Shabbat (Sabbath) celebration. Thank you for praying for God to work through us. Several great conversations came out of it and we have no doubt that He will bless the sharing of His word! In two more weeks we start the next phase of our trip and survey potential ministry locations in Brazil, please continue to pray, especially that God will make His will for a location unmistakably clear! We look forward to sharing more stories and details with you soon!

Always praising God for your faithfulness,

BJ and Carissa Kerstetter

Kerstetter Chronices: September 2015

God has used many things – people, conversations, Scripture – to challenge us to Brazil to reach Israeli backpackers with the Gospel. But it is personal testimonies from Israelis, and friends who have been privileged to share the good news of Messiah with them, that tug at our heart strings and drive us forward – testimonies like this one from *Tamar, an Israeli who stayed at hostel, Shelter on the Lake, in Argentina.

This is what she had to say after her stay there,

“Israel does not talk about Jesus, I don’t know nothing about him before I come to the house… The first week I was there, Brooks told a story after dinner Friday, and something touched me. I felt I wanted to know more. I spoke that night with people about Jesus for many hours, and after this I start to read about him. I feel something different about me. I feel like I’m reborn. I believe on him, and I pray to him. I know him, I learned from him so much, I love his life and what he said. Love, appreciate and respect. I believe it very much. After I left, I talked with many people about him. All the people in the house changed me, hard to find good people who give so much and ask for nothing in return.”

As the prophet Isaiah wrote, “By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities,” (Isaiah 53:11b). Because of Israel’s cultural hostility toward Jesus, Tamar had never before had the chance to learn who Jesus really is. But God prepared her heart and directed her steps to the Shelter on the Lake, where she could listen and ask questions freely, in an open and understanding context. Through the incredible ministry of the Shelter on the Lake, Tamar now knows the truth about Jesus and has a personal relationship with Him!

This December, we will have the great privilege of volunteering for three weeks at the Shelter, where we pray we will have many opportunities to talk with Israelis like Tamar, as well as learn firsthand as much as we can about running a hostel and through it, reaching Israelis with the love and light of our Messiah Jesus.

Please pray for us as we continue to prepare for this work and raise funds for this vital training trip. As always, we are so grateful for your love and support!

In His Grace & Peace,