Read Sanfillipo`s August 20-15 Update.

August Update
Well, I haven’t sent out an update in a while. I feel like I probably say
this for every newsletter I send out, but this time I am very serious. The
past 6-7 weeks have been EXTREMELY busy for me. At the end of July a
YWAM skateboarding outreach team came to Marseille. They are called
“Calling All Skaters” and the purpose of this group of people from all over
the world is to bring the love of Jesus into skate culture! They spent about
6 days here in Marseille. I was able to introduce them to my friends I have
already made at the skateparks where I've been doing ministry the past
several months. It was awesome and we were able to make even more
connections. Every day we hung out at the same skatepark I have been
going to. I feel like we really made an impact at this skatepark. We got to
bring Kingdom culture into skate culture and it was cool to see the
atmosphere change. The local skaters caught our joy and received our
encouragement. We were able to really plant seeds in that community!
After the time in Marseille was finished I joined the YWAM team and
we travelled four hours north to Lyon, France. We road-tripped in a
massive black and yellow truck (pictured at the bottom of the next page).
There we met some local skaters who were willing to show us around the
area and introduce us to other skaters. It was really awesome and we had
the same impact on the skate community there as we did in Marseille.
After our four days were up in Lyon we drove to the west coast of England
to participate in a Christian festival called CreationFest. It was a sixteen
hour drive that we broke up into two days. On our way we spent the night
at a massive old English manor that serves as a YWAM base. It just
happened to have a skatepark down the road!
We finished our drive and found ourselves in Cornwall, England.
CreationFest is a week long festival with christian music, teachings, and
skate boarding. They build a skatepark and invite local skaters and bikers
into the festival. Every year they invite Christian pro skaters and skate
ministries to help organize, build, and run the skatepark. Our team
("Calling All Skaters"), Brian Sumner (a professional for Reliance
Skateboards) and Jud Heald (a Professional for Untitled Skateboards)
were all there serving together. It was awesome to skate and teach and
share our stories with the locals but as well as with the professional
skateboarders. I got to help encourage the people who attended the
festival and share my story and journey of skateboarding with them. It was
great!
After a week there I started to make my way back to Marseille. My time
with the Calling All Skaters group was one of the best times of my life. I’ve
never met so many Jesus loving people who loved skating also and
wanted to impact that culture. They really impacted my life and I pray that I
can work with them more in the future as I can really see myself doing so!
After I got home (I had one day off and I really needed to rest) we started the last classes
for this summer semester. It's a three week course and we have a week left of the class. The
class is about evangelism and discipleship in context. We are talking about two different
kinds of context. In Marseille we have a huge Muslim context/culture but we also have a
huge secular/ post-modern culture. We are learning about some of the different missionaries
who have had success with evangelism and discipleship but
also some ways missionaries have not evangelized and
discipled the best way. It is a very interesting class and we
Prayer Request’s
are getting some awesome resources on how to find the best
approach to these situations and the culture we find ourselves
Pray for my schooling, that in
in.
the times that life gets busy I
The month of September will be another busy month. In
don’t forget or put that off.
the beginning of September my team will be heading to North
Africa for 5 days. There we will meet local missionaries and
Pray for all the traveling I will
see how they run their ministries. We will also head up to
be doing, that I will be safe and
some mountain tribes and serve at an orphanage there. The
also that I make a difference
purpose of this trip is to see North African/Arab/Muslim
wherever I am.
Culture. As well as encourage missionaries there. Right after
that Kate’s (my Fiancé) parents will be coming to visit us in
Pray for me as I push to finish
Marseille. Kate will go to Paris to meet them then they will
my internship on a strong and
come down to Marseille to see what we do here. Then we will
positive note. That I don’t focus
all go to Rome for four days to have a mini vacation after a
to much on going home but
very hectic three months. From the end of September to
that I can be present wherever
December 10th all I will have is my online classes and my
I am.
ministry to focus on. In that time I really hope to focus more
intently on doing skate outreach and working with my church
Pray for all the seeds my team,
Port D'Espoir. I really want to make the most of the time left
the skate group and I have all
that I have here. Please keep me in your prayers through
planted in our time. Pray that
these busy times. Thank you all for your support and let me
they begin to grow and that
know if you have any questions.
they want to seek God, and
that they find God.
I hope all is going well and remember that I love to hear from
you guys!
Blessings,
Cody SanFillipo