Getting ready!

Hi Friends and Family!

We hope that this new update finds each of you well!

We both continue to thank God for His provision through each of you in your prayers and support! He has been showing us over and over again how faithful He is to His children.

The past few weeks have been full of preparation for the upcoming school! We spent two weeks at the YWAM Brisbane base doing the first phase of a class called TEA. This class is used to qualify us to officially assess our students so that they can get a certificate in discipleship from the Australian government. While the class was a lot of work from morning to night, both of us has an excellent experience with TEA. We were equipped by God through a highly devoted group of people from the Brisbane base. We experienced a community in Brisbane that treated us like family, and we learned from the way they run things.

When we returned from Brisbane, we began and are continuing to plan and prepare in more detail for our upcoming school (starting on September 2nd). In this school, the students, while all a part of the September Waves school, have chosen one of four specific ministry tracks--youth ministry, justice and mercy, sports, reach the unreached--in order to deepen their passion and knowledge in that particular area. We have been asked to lead and plan the youth ministries track. This means that we get the chance to plan and prepare not only a youth ministry focused outreach for our track students, but we also get to prepare material for them during lecture phase around how to disciple, how to engage the younger generations and how to lead as Christ does. We are so excited for where God is leading us for this track, and feel that God has given us a vision for what He wants done. As time goes on, we will of course tell you about some of the juicy details!

As we are preparing, we have a few things that we would like to ask for your prayer in. Firstly, we are in the stage before the DTS when obstacles start to appear for students who want to come. These obstacles come in the form of financial difficulties, new relationships, fear, and anxiety. These are a form of spiritual warfare that, over time, YWAM staff have noticed have kept students from coming to a DTS. Please pray for our students in the coming weeks that they continue in obedience to God, look to God for comfort and strength, and put aside distractions, even if they appear good in the moment. We would also request prayer for ourselves and the new staff members. We want to see students’ lives changed through the development of an authentic relationship with Jesus. We are asking for God’s wisdom and His own heart as we prepare to usher students into this relationship. Thank you for remembering these things in your prayers--we are continually experiencing the fruits of your prayer.

Karis here, just wanting to add a little update on the “day to day” things! We are living at the wave house--this is where all the students and some staff live (some staff live in apartments or duplexes around the area). It is an old hostel that YWAM Sunshine Coast purchased about 1.5 years ago. We live in a private room but share a kitchen and bathroom with the rest of the students and some of the staff that also live here. We are really loving being here, even though it has its challenges and sacrifices on space and privacy. We love to be in the heart of the community and have the ability to have conversations with students so easily. We are going to continue living here at least until January, and then we will re-evaluate and pray about whether to stay or find a place of our own. It has also been a real blessing to be here early, as it has allowed us to settle into our space, and just start to feel at home.

The other day, Sam and I were in Brisbane and we walked past the place where he stood over 4 years ago, telling his friends that God had told him that he was supposed to come back to the country. A few months later, I was only 1 hour from that same spot when God spoke to me that I was to come back and staff for YWAM Sunshine Coast. He told me to wait and that He would tell me when. I found myself humbled and completely overwhelmed by God’s intricate plans that day after Sam and I got home from taking that walk . That the God of the universe is somehow so personal with each of us is mind blowing. Lately, God has been showing me that he is constant in every season. There are seasons where my faith has felt so different, sometimes in good ways, sometimes in ways that are difficult for me to grasp or understand. Knowing that His love and grace are consistent is not only comforting but also grounding.

In those 4 years since God spoke to us to come back, a lot has happened-- growth, pain, joy, challenges. Although life has looked different and even my relationship with God has looked different in these years, He has remained the same. I wrote a poem last year in the fall and I came across it the other day while paging through my journal. I want to share it because it was a reminder that even in those seasons where I have felt like getting out of bed and choosing to be present and have joy have been difficult, He was still there and He was still good. I know that this current season will look so different and have its own joys, challenges and hardships, but even on the days where I look around thinking, “where are you God?”, He is there. I will always continue to learn how to hear His voice in the storm, but how amazing is it that He still speaks in the midst of the storms.

When my heart aches to much to grasp a full breath, You are still good.

When my eyes sting from the tears shed, You are still good.

The days that I lie awake and it takes all my strength to rise from bed, You are still good.

You sit with me, a patient Father, Your presence enough to calm the storm within.

When all I can do is gaze at Your face, Your eyes fill my spirit with hope again.

You don’t force me to talk, You don’t pressure me to dance or sing you a song.

You sit there next to me just holding my hand.

You tell the fears to cease and that true joy will once again have this land.

You whisper to me through the winds and the crashing of the sea,

That your love is strong, your love is kind, and You alone can set my aching soul free.

You beckon me to come sit, under your protection, under your wings,

No words or striving necessary, for Your presence is all I need.

This season may look different, this season may be hard,

But Papa oh the wonders of your heart, their great and vast.

I will sit with You each day, in the knowledge that You are a loving Dad.

I feel your kiss in the salty seas, and I sense Your gaze in the rising of the sun.

You will never forsake me, you will never run.

You choose to dwell within me, within this broken body and aching heart, to be the restorer of all.

Because I am your daughter and I live in the protection of your heart.

I hope that this brings encouragement to those of you in seasons where life or even your faith looks different. In these times it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by what we don’t understand or know but I have found that reminding myself that God is constant and faithful even when our circumstances are not, replenishes my spirit with peace, and the strength to continue on.

So thank you all again for your love, support, encouragement, and prayers. We feel incredibly blessed to have so many incredible people on our lives.

With love,

Samuel and Karis

The Wave House