CHILE!

Hello there,

Joshua Toback here to let you know that I’m moving out of the country!

Intrigued?

Well let’s start from the beginning.

It all started back in the summer of 2007, I had graduated from the University of California Santa Cruz that June with a BA in Psychology , had a couple of part time jobs working in social services and an unanswered application to San Jose State’s Masters in Social Work program. As it turned out San Jose State rejected my application based on the fact that I only had about 3 months worth of experience in the social work field and that just wasn’t enough. Undeterred I continued working with the resolve that as I gained more experience I’d become a more desirable applicant, and work I did!

From 2007 to the present I’ve worked as an overnight counselor for a group home for teenage drug addicts, a group home counselor for a behavior modification group home for teenage girls suffering from domestic and sexual abuse, a one-on-one aide and job coach for adults with developmental disabilities and currently as an healthcare aide for a 9 year old boy with severe cerebral palsy. At this point you might be wondering: Josh? Why aren’t you in grad school yet? You have tons of experience from your jobs and got great grades in college, wait… don’t tell me San Jose State rejected your 2010 application too?!? That is, unfortunately, the case. After some serious prayer this summer I believe that God has other plans for me.

I believe that God is calling me to the mission field for the next season of my life. The first thing that comes to my mind when I hear “mission field” are the toughest missionary family I know and longtime friends of the Tobacks, the Anderson family. Mitch Anderson in cooperation with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) started a Discipleship Training School (DTS) in Pichilemu Chile in 1993; still runs it today, and I want in! Lucky for me, I got in, bought a plane ticket to Santiago and on January 4th 2011 I leave for 7 months. It definitely was a step of faith dropping 1150 dollars on a plane ticket without having the rest of the money I’m going to need for the school or the outreach we’re going on. But I believe that God is going to provide the rest because I know that this is something that He wants me to do.

What will I be doing in Pichilemu Chile? In February 2010 Chile was rocked with an 8.8 earthquake that devastated many parts of the country including Pichilemu. So part of the time I spend there is definitely going to include relief work. Already the YWAM base is collecting and distributing food and clothing, clearing rubble and collapsed houses, equipping teams that offer medicinal aid and counseling and building new homes. As well as contributing to this effort I’ll be taking Bible classes at their school and planning a three month outreach mission to another part of the world. That outreach could very well be in Chile but it’s something that we’ll be praying about as a team and if we hear God telling us to dig wells in Africa, then we’re packing up some shovels and heading to Africa.

I’m really excited about what this next chapter holds for me and I hope you are too. I’ll be updating my blog often with pictures and videos of the journey as it unfolds, so check in often, the address is: thestorkinthesky.blogspot.com Obviously I will also be needing some serious prayer while I’m away, so hopefully as you stay in touch with the blog you’ll be praying for me as I take each step. Finally, as foreshadowed earlier I’m going to need some financial support as well. I hope that everyone who reads this will take a moment in their week and pray to see if God puts it on your heart to support me. I know that God is going to provide, and it’s an awkward thing for me to ask for money, but please know that I’ll be so grateful for anything that you can donate. Thank you so much for your prayers and I can’t wait to see how God works through me and everyone on the team I’ll be a part of.

If you’d like to support me financially I’ve been able to make arrangements for all donations to be tax deductable. Our family friends Peter and Colette Crawford have an organization called Missionary Christian Fellowship that you can make your check out to. (They get a lot of checks for different missionaries so please make the check out to MCF but include my name in the “notes” potion so they know to put the money in my account) They will send you a letter/receipt so you can deduct the amount from your taxes.

Their address is: Missionary Christian Fellowship, 3 Linden Road, Watsonville, CA, 95076