arise and walk
Walking State Route 20 in 106-degree Temperatures Outside Okanogan, WA
Greetings in Jesus’ name! In dark days of Christian persecution, even here in America, WORTHY IS THE LAMB.
I used to journal obsessively and have a whole shelf back home full of those old diaries. Back on September 10, 2003 when I was first bicycling across America for the Word of God and the Testimony of Jesus Christ, preaching all along the way, I found myself somewhere up in Michigan and very discouraged. The LORD caught my attention in Genesis 13:17 where He told Abraham:
“Arise, WALK THROUGH THE LAND in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.”
I was pressed in my spirit. Would I be willing, like Abraham, to drop what I was doing in obedience, to go where He told me to go in the manner He told me to do it? What if He one day asked me to walk across my country as He commanded Abraham to do in Canaan? Would I complain and murmur about it like I was doing on that bicycle? In many ways, riding the bicycle across America was easy and comfortable. But would I be willing to walk it? In that journal, I wrote these words, so I can’t really argue with myself about it:
“There is much to do on this bicycle journey before I can think about another one. But the key is AM I WILLING? Yes! Lord, I am willing. Lord, show me your will and when the time is right” (9/10/2003).”
I forgot about that chicken-scratched promise until God brought it back to mind in March of 2021. The rest is history. Never tell the LORD you are willing to do something and then go back on your word when He comes calling. Never do that! And so here I am, after more than 6,800 miles of walking, from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina into the Northern Cascade Mountains of Washington State. Glory to God, glory to the Living God!
I apologize for the long lull in communication since our last newsletter, Mashiach Yisrael Chai (5/8/2024). Much has happened and is happening, and yet, I’ll try to keep it brief. Thank you to all who pray regularly for this ministry and for those who help hold the ropes in support, both spiritual and financial. You are a blessing and not taken for granted.
I am writing from a porch in Northern Washington not far from the Puget Sound. After five straights days of walking across Okanogan County in triple-digit temperatures—July 6th, 100 degrees (21 miles), July 7th, 104 degrees (13 miles), July 8th, 106 degrees (23 miles), July 9th (108 degrees (12 miles), July 10th, 102 degrees (23 miles)—and an 18-mile slogfest in the mountains that required ice axes and crampons, we packed up and drove a bit west to get over the mountains and into cooler weather for a couple days of much-needed rest. Back on June 25th, Carter, Bethany, and I resumed #TheLongWalkUSA from the abandoned barn on Heine Road in Stevens County, Washington. Since, we have logged nearly 300 walking miles with almost 100 Gospel encounters! The walking route has crossed the Columbia River, climbed up and over two mountain ranges (the Kettle Rivers and the Okanogans), slogged into a third mountain chain (the Northern Cascades) and to the summit of Mt. Baker, a big Cascade volcano near the Canadian border. You can read about the FIRST DAY back at it here: THE LAST LEG RESUMES.
I took this aerial shot with my drone while Carter and Bethany were walking across this Columbia River highway bridge right beside an old railroad bridge.
Frankly, it was a long journey just to get back out here to the Pacific Northwest, and that in and of itself was an adventure. The self-defense seminar for ladies at the Easton Archery Center in Yankton, South Dakota was a huge success. About 40 women and girls came out for the all-day seminar, and we had a lot of fun. Many of those folks didn’t know each other and some came from as far away as Avon, Parkston, and Beresford. 2 young ladies, whose father is a pastor in a small community outside of Yankton, saw the ad in the paper and came not knowing what to expect. They said, “When you shared real quick that you are a Christian, we were so relieved and thankful.” I was amazed by how many of these folks were aware of what was done to us in Montana, folks we have never met who have prayed for us and have seen the whistleblower-leaked body-cam footage. Of course, any objective person who sees it is utterly disgusted by it. It was great to teach and encourage openly the very things for which Austin Knudsen, Thorin Geist, and the State of Montana is selectively prosecuting as “crimes” for Christians (not for anyone else), the very things their own laws on their own books affirm as rights and duties. Most importantly, we seized opportunity to share the Gospel, affirming that self-defense should always involve CRYING OUT TO THE LORD for help (as my son Josiah did in the back of that police truck when he was taken from us and back to the location of the man who attacked his family, left unattended in the cold) and sometimes, the best form of self-defense is SELF-SACRIFICE: as demonstrated by Bethany, Carter, and Eric on the side of that Montana highway on my behalf and, of course, as demonstrated by our LORD when He sacrificed Himself on Calvary for our sins and was raised again from the dead for our justification. Hallelujah!
We had a great crowd come out in Yankton, SD for the ladies self-defense seminar.
Bethany tossed me around a bit on that hard floor.
I love working with my daughter. In all my years of teaching, I can truly say I have never trained with a better female Aikidoist.
We also did some preaching and singing at a farmers market in Miles City, Montana as well as in front of the Office of the Montana Attorney General in Helena. We enjoyed some good fellowship with folks in Montana who came to our aid and support after the hate crime done upon us in Madison County. I sat for an interview with Bitterroot Valley Radio at a local church in Victor (WATCH HERE), and I was blessed to preach to a small local church fellowship in Missoula. Needless to say, we were already worn out before we even started walking again. In Spearfish, South Dakota, we took a break from a the driving to do a little rock climbing up in the canyon. A fall on the crag injured my foot, and I am still dealing with that … but the LORD has been gracious and brought healing. Thanks to all who have been praying for it. Here, you can read about something very important brought to my mind by the Holy Spirit during those scary moments on the rock: IT SHALL BE RECONCILED. It’s a good reminder for all of us who have felt the sting of broken relationships in the Body of Christ.
We did some preaching and sang hymns about THE BLOOD OF CHRIST at a public park during a local farmers market in Miles City, Montana. I had to preach sitting down because of my rock climbing injury :)
More Preaching and Hymn Singing outside the Office of the Montana Attorney General (Our Chief Persecutor) as we passed through Helena
It was a blessing to preach God’s Word to a local church fellowship in Missoula, Montana.
In Miles City, Montana, Carter also sat for a podcast interview with Justin Clearwater, the grandson of Frank Clearwater (murdered by the United States federal government at Wounded Knee in 1973). Justin is a good brother in Christ who has become a friend as a direct result of the hate crime done upon us in Madison County. You’ll be immensely encouraged by Carter’s testimony and his straight talk in this podcast episode. I really do encourage a listen:
I do want to ask that you remember Eric & Mindy Trent and their three small children in your prayers. They have been down in Peru for more than a month now, and the church planting work in one of the poorest and most dangerous barrios in all of Lima has been fruitful and good. Come August, they will be transferring up to Huaraz for a couple weeks of Israeli backpacker outreach after the manner of our labor there in former years. We miss Brother Eric out here on the walk, but he and his family are exactly where the Lord wants them to be. We are honored to have them as co-laborers with Full Proof Gospel Ministries. We are also immensely blessed by the faithful Gospel-centered labors of Brother TJ Lindsey, his family, and Heart of Christ ministries down in Peru. It is an honor for our local church to support this work and for FPGM to send its missionaries to come alongside. Here is a brief report from Eric in that field. Truly, the foreign mission field is a great place to share with your small children. Michael, Louella, and Edith Trent are now true MKs. Hallelujah!
from the trent family in peru
Greetings, brethren. My family sends our salutations from down here in Lima, Peru! We are blessed to be back on the foreign field to serve Christ, this time together as a family-unit. We arrived here back on June 7th, and by God’s grace we are well settled in. In the past, my wife and I have spent timer traveling to and fro overseas, preaching the Gospel in diverse places and always on the hunt for any backpacking Israelis to whom we might tell the good news of their Messiah. This time we are blessed to have our three small children with us to “show them the ropes” on the foreign field. To our surprise, all of our children have adjusted very well to life overseas. We are so very thankful for God’s grace in this regard. His grace is always sufficient.
The Trent Family in Caja de Agua, Peru
We have spent much of our time here in Lima helping Heart of Christ Ministries (a mission work supported by my local church) in their faithful work of preaching the Gospel and church planting in the Caja De Agua barrio. Heart of Christ teaches children from the neighborhood who attend the weekly Bible classes, and through their sponsorship program, the poor families are provided with groceries each month. It is a good work here, and it is a blessing for my family to come alongside. Last week, I was given opportunity to teach the Bible classes out of their exegetical study in the Book of Acts. My text was 4:1-12, the account of Peter and John healing the lame man in Jerusalem at the Beautiful gate. As always, it was a good opportunity to point the children and their families to the name of Christ and the message of the Gospel, explaining to them that we exist to glorify God in all that we do. Peter and John demonstrate great testimony during that miraculous moment by giving Christ all the glory and pointing everyone who witnessed the miracle to the message of the Gospel. Whatever we do, we must point others to Christ.
Eric teaches children’s’ Bible classes in the Barrio
I have also been privileged to preach the Gospel in the open-air a few times here in the city, in some of the local plazas. I spend a lot of time studying Spanish, and by God’s grace I have been able to preach and read the Scriptures in a manner such that the locals can understand. I praise God for this! The messages have been very simple, nothing wrong with that I suppose, as the message of the Gospel should be very simple and clear for sinful man to hear and understand. Two of these preaching opportunities were in Miraflores, a nicer part of Lima which sees many tourists. There is a large Roman Catholic church near Parque Kennedy in Miraflores where I read part of Romans 5 in Spanish with my son beside me. What better place to read of our justification being found in Christ alone! That same day my son and I met a woman who was living in L.A., but born and raised in our own hometown back in North Carolina. What a divine appointment! She received a Gospel tract in English and was so encouraged by our witness for the Lord. She affirmed that she too was a believer. On a different day, I took a few brothers from the local church here in Caja De Agua out to preach with me. We went to a plaza near the train station where a small crowd was mingling. It was an encouraging time. After I preached two brief messages in Spanish, the local pastor and the other brother who were with me ventured into the crowd and immediately began having great conversations with the audience about the Lord … not to mention all the Gospel tracts that were given out as well! All glory to God!
Eric open-air preaches in Spanish in a public plaza in Lima.
I will close out this brief report with a prayer request regarding some upcoming plans. My family and I are planning to travel to Huaraz on August 5th and base there for several weeks. While there, we intend to minister for Christ however we can. There will be opportunity for me to preach to the locals who gather in the main plaza. I am hoping to get out much of our Gospel tract and Scripture portion supply. There will also be opportunity to share the Gospel with tourists as well. Tourists from all over the world regularly go to Huaraz to trek through the Cordillera Blanca mountain range. In the past, we have always found Israelis traveling through Huaraz seeking adventure in those mountains. We are going to go there in hopes of finding these Israelis again, and any other tourists who the Lord might put in our path. We have secured a place to live while we are there, and Lord willing, we will be able to host travelers from time to time for a free meal as FPGM has done in the past. This hospitality yields great opportunity to share the Gospel and place a copy of God’s Word in the hands of those who don’t have it. I’d love to get some of our Hebrew-English New Testament supply out and into the hands of Israeli backpackers. We still have some left over down here from FPGM’s 2019 Team Yeshua. Hey, Carter Phillips was a volunteer on that particular team. Now, he is married to Bethany and they are helping FPGM finish #TheLongWalkUSA. That’s pretty cool when you think about it.
We greatly look forward to this time back in Huaraz. Personally, I am excited to spend this special time with my wife and children and preach the Gospel with them in a place that has made a great impact on me in my life as a missionary. Please pray for us in this regard, that the Lord would send us the people, particularly lost sheep from the House of Israel. Pray also for His provision for our financial needs. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your care and support of Full Proof Gospel Ministries and our work, both here and in the long walk across America. When those guys finally get close to a finish line, I am praying that I can fly up to join them for the last several miles. God’s will be done.
Always looking unto Jesus,
Eric Trent
There really is much I could write about these last 300 miles of walking, but I must keep it brief. We resumed in Stevens County from that same old abandoned building on Heine Rd, and we have continued through Ferry, Okanogan, and into Whatcom counties. Okanogan, by the way, is a huge county, and seemed like it took forever to walk across it. As the crow flies, we are very close to Pacific Ocean off the Olympic Peninsula, and we could literally finish in a relatively short a amount of time on the same beach where my first bicycle missionary journey terminated back in 2004, but it still seems the Lord is directing us to get wet in the waters of the Pacific somewhere in Northern California. That being said, we have a ways yet to go. Your prayers for wisdom and discernment as to the specific route are much appreciated.
Long ago, I promised Bethany and Carter that I would lead them up a big Cascade volcano once we made it out this far and that we would try to route the walk in such a way as to accomplish such. Lately, there has been some really good climbing weather west of the Cascades here in Northern Washington, and we found the walking route close enough to Mount Baker to make this our target. By August, the glacial crevasses will have opened up making our route of choice far more dangerous, so we seized the window here in mid-July, skipping a bit ahead on the route and doing the 18-mile slog to the summit and back down. It took us 16 hours, car to car, and involved more than 7,000-feet of elevation gain. We had to rope up on the glacier, and Bethany and Carter were both machines on that ice. The Lord was good and truly watched over us. In a strange twist of Providence, my old crampons that ironically first got me up another Cascade volcano (Rainier) back in 2002 finally broke on me, the kind of break that cannot be repaired … but it happened only ten steps before I was able to get off the glacier. Had it occurred higher up on the steep icy slopes, I would have been in big trouble. I had to rig those things up down in Peru back in 2019 and I was a bit concerned about them when we started up Baker, but the Lord took care of it all, just like He did for Jacob when he went to meet Esau (Genesis 32). It was only fitting that I feed those old things to the Coleman glacier, letting it eat them up. Having skipped ahead like we did back in Wyoming to seize a closing weather window with Cloud Peak, we now have to fill in the gap from just below Washington Pass in the North Cascades to where we came down off of Baker. Once that is finished, the route will turn south, following the Cascades into Oregon. As a dad, it was good to keep a promise to one of my kids, one made many, many miles ago. And I can’t think of two better climbing partners than my daughter and my son-in-law.
On June 25th, we resumed from the same dilapidated building where was stopped back in late November. This time, it wasn’t dark; it wasn’t rainy; and it definitely wasn’t cold!
#TheLongWalkUSA reached the upper slopes of Mount Baker in Whatcom County, Washington.
I finally had to say goodbye to these old Black Diamond classics. They started on Rainier and died on Baker. Over the years, they were faithful tools on big peaks in the Himalayas and the Andes. They were with me when I did some of my first glacier self-arrest practice in the North Cascades more than 22 years ago, the very range we are walking across now. It’s funny how today’s crampons weight a lot less :)
There have been some good Gospel encounters since we left home. Six copies of God’s Word have gone into the hands of folks who needed it, beginning with a disheveled traveler named Jeremy outside of a fuel station in North Carolina not long after the SAG vehicle left home, Washington bound. He so much appreciated the Bible and a pair of fresh socks for his journey.
One particular day, it was hot and we were discouraged after sleeping on the ground in the woods. As is our custom, we prayed together on the side of the road before beginning the day’s walk, this time asking the LORD to send some encouragement and reveal His divine hand of Providence in the difficulties and discouragements that led us to that spot at that particular time. A few miles in, while I was walking alongside US Highway 97, a pickup truck passed by, slammed on the brakes, and started backing up toward me. Since the November 12, 2021 hate crime in Madison County, Montana, such things seem a little more unnerving. I quietly asked the Lord, “Is this a friend or a foe?” and then I asked Him to give me grace to handle whatever happens. The guy simply asked if I needed a ride and a break from the heat. I thanked him profusely and explained that it would be “cheating” as I had committed to the Lord to walk an unbroken route across America. I then gave him a walking preacher Gospel tract. He thanked me and went on his way. Later, he came back and found Bethany and Carter walking with the cross. He handed them three crisp hundred dollar bills and stopped Carter as he politely tried to refuse. “Sir,” Carter said, “we aren’t out here asking for money and we certainly aren’t doing it for money.” Rick interrupted, “No, you don’t understand. I am a new believer. The Lord saved me a few months ago, and these are the type of things Christians are supposed to do for one another. I so much appreciate what you are doing and just want to help you out a little along the way. I looked at your website, and that is terrible what they did to you all in Montana. I’ll be praying for you.” He then asked where to find me. He did at a spot where I was sitting in my Cliq chair under a shade tree off a dirt road. I was surprised to see this man again and wondered what was going on. He asked, “Hey I’m a new believer. Can we sit here and talk for a bit?” I happily agreed, and it proved a great opportunity to speak about daily feedings in God’s Word and the importance of solid local church fellowship. A painter by trade who lived up on the Canadian border, he mentioned that he was driving over an hour to church each week and that it was worthwhile for the sound preaching. I marveled to hear such things and to see an understanding of Christianity 101 lost on many folks who claim to have known the Lord for many years. I gave Rick a great discipleship book by Mark Cahill and a pocket-sized leather Bible to keep with him in his work truck. We have kept in touch ever since, and he periodically checks to see if we need anything or where exactly we may be walking. He says his encounter with us was his great blessing from the LORD timed perfectly. I would disagree, however. Yes, the timing was perfect, but the blessing was ours, a direct answer to our specific prayer that morning and a clear demonstration that all the difficulties leading up to that point were for a good reason. Sheer profundity!
On that same stretch of highway, the Lord put a little icing on the cake. Another man stopped in a pickup truck, got out, and ran across the busy highway to hand me three twenty dollar bills. Seth thanked me for what I was doing over my insistence that we weren’t asking for money. He was born and raised in that valley, a son of sheep herders. He loved the Lord, and he loved our visible witness in his neck of the woods. He asked if he could pray for me and our journey right there on the shoulder of the highway. Praise God. The Pacific Northwest is a spiritually dark place, but the Lord also has His Remnant here, as in all places.
I enjoyed some good Christian fellowship with Rick, a new believer, on the side of a dirt road, a sweet answer to our prayer of that morning.
The night after we met Rick, a fully-furnished guest apartment at the home of complete strangers was opened to us, and we were welcomed with a hot meal. This was down in Pateros, and it was proved a good base for the next few days as we navigated some real hot weather a little north of there. This provision from the Lord started in New Mexico with the prayers of some saints there, and the chain transited through Idaho before it was manifest in Washington. Ain’t that just how the Lord works, through the prayers of his people? (Some of you prayed for this too, thank you). We woke up that next morning, a Sunday, with a glorious view high above where the Methow River flows unto the Columbia. And, thanks to this provision, I was able to preach remotely from Hebrews 11:17-22 to my local church body back home. We found these Christian folks who opened their guest apartment to be so kind and demonstrative of genuine unconditional Christian hospitality (a very rare commodity these days). Not long we arrived and shared a meal, the 70-year-old gentlemen said to me: “Now, you guys are family. So, I’m going to leave the door to the main house unlocked. If you need to come in for any reason during the night, it’s open.” Sheer profundity! And oh, I slept so good and actually forgot that my feet were raw and blistered. This brother and his wife who hosted us for several days have a pretty incredible testimony. They’ve been married 48 years and grew up in the Seattle area. About 25 years ago, he slipped in his driveway and hit his head real hard. For the next 19 years, he had complete amnesia and no memory of anything or anyone before that fall. Jerry had been an obsessive journalist, but even reading and re-reading all his old diaries triggered nothing. Like a child, he actually had to re-learn about Jesus and the Gospel. They prayed for a long time that the Lord would restore his memories. After 19 years and very suddenly, they all came back … starting with a sudden recollection of one of his grandmother’s facial expressions. It was just amazing to hear and see an example of the very type of courageous faith I preached about from Hebrews 11 to my local church body that next morning. Courageous faith is indeed tested, but in and through that testing: courageous faith then blesses others, shines magnificent, and waxes confident. May this also be said of us!
Like Rick, these Christian folks have continued to check on us as the walk has continued. What a blessing it is to have made so many new Christian friends along these highways and byways. There is indeed a faithful Remnant here in America.
Praise God for the wonderful provision of this guest apartment as a nightly refuge during a very hot week of walking, and for the new Christian friends who supplied it.
The Lord knew I needed a place with a good connection to preach remotely to my local church fellowship in our continued verse-by-verse study of Hebrews. He provided it by way of some prayers that started in New Mexico.
At one point in Okanogan County, a terrible blister developed on the bottom of the same foot with the bum ankle from that aforementioned rock climbing accident in South Dakota. It eventually spread up in between my toes and made it very difficult to walk, especially on pavement. I hated asking Carter and Bethany to bare most of a Tuesday’s walking burden, but they did willingly and did have a couple of interesting encounters. One involved two middle-aged women who pulled up asking, “Why are you walking?” Of course, Carter explained and spoke of the Lord Jesus Christ, offering them a Gospel tract. As soon as Jesus came up, they replied, “Oh no. We don’t want that!” and then sped off … About 40 minutes later, they came back bearing gifts, cold bottled water and some granola bars. Apparently, these two ladies had come under conviction. When they returned, one said, “You know what. I respect you for what you are doing, and I think I will take one of those and read it” (i.e. the Gospel tract she had earlier refused). There have been a lot of weird occurrences on this journey. Sometimes, however, the weird encounters are weird in a good way, like with these ladies who came back. Pray the Lord works on their hearts. And remember, they first reaction you get from a stranger is not always the last reaction. Moreover, initial hostility is better than apathy. It at least bespeaks conviction. Angry conviction is far getter than no conviction.
Carter and Bethany bore almost an entire day’s walking burden because of my ailing foot. They are machines.
I really could go on and on about the encounters. But, like with the writer of Hebrews who said “the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets” (11:32), the time also fails me to talk of Alan, Charlie, John, Joe, Carly, Jason, Mike, Tony, Tracy, Vic on his lawnmower, Lonnie, Dave, Skye, Corrine, Micah who let me pick fresh strawberries from his garden, Kim, Cindy, Taylor, Crissy who brought me a cold popsicle out to the road on a triple-digit afternoon, Andy, Glenn, a granddaughter of Jewish Holocaust survivors, and many others, even a shirtless redneck who communicated as I walked down the highway just like the hater in Madison County: “Your kind ain’t welcome around here.” This guy proved harmless; the one in Madison County was not (the Montana Attorney General’s poor “victim” also beat up his girlfriend a few months ago and was apparently arrested for it on a domestic violent charge).
In all seriousness, please remember the unjust trial we are facing on October 28th, stemming from that hate crime done upon us back on November 12, 2021. There will be some sort of pre-trial hearing in September. Please join us in praying for the Lord to deliver us from our persecutors. Until He chooses to do so, we’ll just keep serving Him, one foot in front of another. By His grace, our feet will have gotten wet in the Pacific and #TheLongWalkUSA will be finished before we go on trial. That will be a great testimony against our persecutors.
“But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them” (Mark 13:9).
I just got a voicemail the other day from a complete stranger in Helena, Montana who heard about our case from someone in Washington, DC. She and her local church, she said, had been praying for us. Hallelujah, what a blessing! What men mean for evil, the Lord truly uses for good.
One last thing … I’ve been continuing my teaching through Hebrews 11 for my local church, even while out here on the road. I pray this message on NAKED FAITH encourages you this week. Courageous faith is naked faith; and naked faith does not dissimulate. It declares plainly the things of the Lord (Hebrews 11:14).
6828 miles, 3241 encounters and still counting …
Hallelujah & Amen!
Jesse Boyd, Full Proof Gospel Ministries