Hey friends and family! Were excited to get another update out to you, and to those of you who have just been added to the email list, welcome! If you haven’t read our last update feel free to do so as it will bring better clarity and understanding to this post. The last few weeks of lectures with the students have been an absolute blast and also chaotic! We had some amazing speakers that talked on great topics such as, biblical overview, spiritual warfare, Lordship, Identity, and missions. Students especially loved the weeks on Identity and Lordship and there was some really cool breakthrough, challenges, and growth which we will tell you about further down in the update! We continued having our outreach prep times with our team every Monday where we talk about the cultures of the places where we’re going, prepped sermons and taught about preaching the gospel to un-reached people, practiced drama’s along with lots of team bonding, prayer, and logistical things. We also took our team camping a few weeks ago over a weekend, it was a lot of fun to just get out of the area and for the students to really relax and continue to get to know each other better, it was a much needed fun and restful time for them.
Throughout the school our Youth Ministries/ outreach team has had its ups and downs as locations were changed, ministry opportunities changed, and students have either joined our team or others will not be joining us on outreach due to personal or financial reasons. In the midst of all the change and the current last minute things we have to do before we leave in 3 days, God has been so faithful to bring joy and peace into each situation. We know that the shifts and challenges we have had so far as a team is just the beginning of the sometimes difficult things we will have to work through when were on outreach. When you have 8 students ages 18-23 led by two 24 year old leaders in developing countries, thing will not always go smoothly, but that's okay! We have so much confidence that God will continue to walk with us in the midst of it all and we are ready to choose his joy, peace, and His understanding even when we don’t understand anything. We know this will not be an easy task but we believe it truly is the only way to live, especially when your thrown into the deep end. Sam and I continue to be awed each day by the privilege we have to do what we do. Getting to Walk alongside these students as they grow in their faith, discover truth for themselves, some giving their lives to Christ for the first time, others making a choice to go into full time missions (which obviously can look so many different ways), being freed from addictions, experiencing God’s healing hands physically and emotionally, and so much more is an honor we don’t take it lightly. In the midst of it all God is continually teaching us through situations, the students themselves, speakers, and His still but strong voice. He continues to humble us, teaching us more about who He is, cover us with His Grace, and bring deeper revelations and healing into our lives. We feel so loved here and it truly feels like home in many ways because we know so confidently this is where God has called us right now. We still deeply miss our loved ones and the heartache is real, know that we think of you often, pray for you, and are eager to see your faces again, no matter when that is or for how long we do not know.
Sam and I are doing really good individually and together. As I have mentioned things have been chaotic for sure, and what we do doesn’t have off hours so it’s full on, but we wouldn’t trade it for anything. We still are really intentional about taking time together for our marriage and will continue to value that and make it priority. We have already grown so much in our time here and really feel like God is teaching us about his faithfulness in the middle of things and stretching us as leaders for sure. We can see so clearly the team that God has made us and its so fun to watch each other lead out in areas of strength and in weakness! Life together is so much fun and we love serving a God that is full of adventure and creativity.
As stated above the last few weeks have been some of the most transforming weeks yet for our students. The topics have been “Identity”, “The Living Word”, and “Lordship”. On “Identity” week, the lecturer, Christophe, an international teacher and evangelist, came and instead of giving hours of notes, he gave God the room to speak to students individually and uniquely. Christophe stirred the pot for students and staff alike, and his boldness paved the way for some incredible breakthrough. He facilitated times where God changed the way that many students perceived who they are and what their value is. One of the most impactful times was a time of ministry for those students and staff members who struggle with an eating disorder or with a negative self image. God worked powerfully in each
person, and since then, we have heard multiple testimonies of people finally being able to enjoy meals, desserts, and eating in general after years of torment. All of this came from a new and genuine revelation of how God created each person and who they truly are: beautiful, worthy, and valuable.
In the “Living Word” week, Brian, the School of Biblical Studies leader, taught us on the Bible. Many expected this week to be dry, boring, and full of things that they already knew. By the end of the first day of class, it became clear that this was not the case--many students’ hearts were already set on fire for the Word of God. Throughout the week, Brian made connections throughout scripture and told familiar Bible stories in ways that brought an entirely new dynamic and depth to what may have otherwise been dry. Brian left many students with a new appreciation for the infinite depth of God’s Word to us. He showed us how possible it is to study the Bible and desperate to do so. One particular student we have talked to communicated to us how His whole concept of how the Bible works was changed. He now has a burning desire to know the Word and study it for the rest of his life. It has been amazing to see students reading the scriptures every morning because they want to, not because of any religious duty!
Finally, on “Lordship” week, we had one of YWAM international’s top speakers come to us from New Zealand. Mark taught on how to make Jesus Lord of your life. He showed the school how being a Christian and being saved does not mean that Jesus is lord of our lives. Throughout the week, Mark definitely challenged us to seek out the areas of our lives that are not yielded to Him. He showed us how these areas--even if they are potentially good things--can be idols in our lives that take the place of Jesus. God worked really powerfully in so many lives on this week. Students layed down many things that previously took Jesus’ place and committed, in their own ways, to make Jesus king in their lives. One area that we saw tremendous breakthrough in is the area of shame. Shame can do so much damage in a person’s life--it says that we are something despicable or gross--it affects who we think we are. On the last day of “Lordship” week, Mark led us through a long, 14 hour day of ministry where students and staff alike laid their lives down in front of Jesus. During this time, many were freed from the shame that had been holding them down and so much more! It was amazing to be a part of leading students into a healthy fear of the Lord, where they can now feel confident and secure knowing that God’s plan and will for them are good.
It has been a pleasure these last few weeks getting to disciple students through the topics of the lectures. Many students were challenged, did not immediately understand, and had loads of questions. Ultimately, this meant that growth and transformation both during and after lectures was taking place. We have seen our students take tremendous steps forward these last few weeks, which we believe will alter the rest of their lives! All the praise goes to God!
As we finish writing this update we currently are 3 days away from leaving! We have a lot of last minute things to do but we are so excited. Our first stop will be in Melbourne Australia, as an entire team (40 students, and 18 staff) we will be attending a conference called the Awakening conference. It will be 3 days of ‘teaching and doing’ and we are so excited as it truly is the best send off into outreach! We then will head off to Uganda (details of what were doing in each place is in our last update) as an entire outreach group (39 students and 14 staff) for 3 weeks. Then we split into our 5 outreach teams and head our separate ways for the remainder of the time. Our Youth Ministries track will continue in Uganda for 1.5 more weeks working with some local pastors and a children’s home. We then head to Papua New Guinea for 2.5 weeks to work with the Mount Hagen base where our base has good friendships with locals and the team there (again details of what we will be doing is in our last update). We will then spend the remaining 1.5 weeks in Australia putting on a youth conference for local high school age students during their Christmas break. All the teams will be back together in Australia on the sunshine coast base on January 11th where we will have 1 week of debrief lectures and then the students will graduate. And a week later a whole new group comes and we start the process again for the next 5 months.
While on outreach we may not have much access to wifi or the means of updating you, but we will do our best! So please keep your eyes open for another update in your email hopefully within the next month or so!
We would greatly appreciate your prayer over these next 8 weeks of outreach. Some main areas of prayer would be for unity, oneness, health and safety within our team. Not only the school as a whole but for our Youth Ministries team specifically. Also for the people that we will be with in the different nations, that they would experience God’s love and hear His truth, and that their lives would never be the same after encountering the love and the power of the Holy Spirit. Lastly we would appreciate prayer specifically for Sam and I, that we would continue to grow as a team and unit as we lead this group together, that there would be grace over situations and hardships and for continued growth individually and for our marriage. We want to glorify God in all that we do and for our marriage to be a sign post to God’s love and goodness to His children, but we cannot do that out of our own humanness and flesh, we need His Grace and Spirit in everything we do.
We love and appreciate all of you so much, your encouragement, support, finances, prayers, messages, letters, and love means so much to us, more than we know how to express in words. We think of you often and pray for you, were incredibly blessed and honored to have family and friends like you all, you teach us so much, we wouldn’t be who we are without the impact from your lives.
Much love, Samuel and Karis
One of the girls here made a video from the first couple weeks of the school, she gave me permission to share it! Click the link below to watch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtNOPYvVJNA&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR2bI-e-7JrC7iNb_2lVFGmw_SZAQF7XXv07ewLcKMZi5dvWq_XAk2gh28E
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