Hello all!
We hope this update is finding each of you well, even though we know the likelihood is that all of you are facing your own challenges and struggles in these times. We are excited to be coming to you with a few updates and some of the upcoming transitions for us here in the Sunshine Coast!
With the school having ended in mid-June, we turned our attention to what was next for us. We have been planning a road trip south for about a year, and since there would be no July DTS, it was the perfect time to take the trip! The central motivation behind our road trip became giving God space and our objectivity to speak to us about what was next—after finishing the last school, we didn’t have any official commitments—though rest, fun, and meeting up with friends were certainly on the agenda! Quite opportunely, near the end of the last DTS, our base leader, John, approached us about a new leadership role in the DTS ministry. The role is a part of the senior leadership team and something he felt we would fit into well. Knowing our hearts wanted to be preparing for India, John asked us to take the next month to pray about taking the role.
During this time of fun, travel, and catching up with close friends, we were walking with God through the most difficult prayer journey we have been on to date! We were often confused, uncertain, and a bit lost. Our core desire through it was to obey what God was saying—plain and simple—only, at times, it seemed like He was saying competing things! As we were leaving Newtown (where we were when we sent out our last update), our friend and the base leaders there prayed for us to send us off. One of the base leaders nearly immediately felt to remind us to see the prayer process we were on as equally important as the “prayer product”. She said to see the season we were in as more than just a means to an end—it could actually be a time where the confusion drew us closer to our Father. This encouragement changed our mindset, and after repenting and asking God to forgive our impatience and short sightedness, we began journeying again in a new way. By the time we met back up with John, our base leader, six weeks later, we had a settling in our hearts and an answer for him: we would take the role and commit to it for the next four years. We recognized that our timing for India needed to be surrendered, not forced into fruition and that there was zeal and excitement available for us, in God, for every season when we are in alignment with His will. So, there it is, our newest news! There are still many unknowns about the responsibilities that are in front of us, but as we talked with John, he assured us that the role could be tailored to us, our vision for the DTS ministry, and India! We will be transitioning into this over the next year while still participating in the DTS ministry in its new, pandemic-responsive form (which we will talk about next!). As details become more clear as we pray and plan over the next months we will be sure to keep you updated. We know our explanation of the role right now is very vague, but we want to be careful to not make any assumptions and be really prayerful about every part of it before we explain it in more depth.
As for the next year, there’s good news and there’s bad news, and if you’re anything like us, it’s better to get the bad news out of the way first. As we have been talking with local and national YWAM leaders and government officials in the education sector, it seems like international students will not be let into the country for at least another 12 months. This not only impacts our schools’ international students, but also us. Since we are here as students, the current restrictions preclude us from returning to Australia until travel bans are lifted. This means that if we come home, we cannot return to Australia. As we had hoped to come home in July, and then when that didn’t work, over Christmas, we are grieving the loss of our opportunity to visit home this year. At the same time, however, we are looking forward to a unique year of schools, transition, and ministry, which is the good news. Our DTS staff team has split up into two different arms: a school-focused arm and an outreach-focused arm. We felt prompted by God to join the outreach arm and both continue some of the ministry we were doing on our most recent outreach, as well as join the team in some new ministry opportunities. We will continue discussing and planning, but right now some opportunities we are looking at and actively planning are: reaching out to and visiting local schools to speak and talk with students; putting on skate competitions where we can talk with people and preach the Gospel; joining with a ministry in northern Queensland that works with Indigenous men, women, and teens that are sent to them by the court to rehabilitate and learn life and relational skills; and action sports shows where we can preach and witness to people who attend (one of our staff members was a professional FMX rider—this is similar to moto-cross). It’s clear that God is activating big vision as well as the people to pursue the vision even in these times when others things are grinding to a halt worldwide. Of course we will continue to keep health and safety a priority as the government here has excelled in doing, but as a staff team, we have decided to combat complacency in our personal spiritual walks as well as in our ministries. More updates will be coming regarding the outreach opportunities ahead, but we would love if you all would be willing to continue praying for discernment and zeal as we pursue Him over these next months.
On the other arm of our staff team, the DTS staff are preparing for a school to arrive in early September, though our five students could potentially be cut down to two by border closures that are happening this Saturday. We are prayerfully deciding how to handle this and what exactly it means for us as we, as a base, consolidate our properties, and prepare for what’s to come.
We are extremely excited to see how God uses both of these fields! Know that as things become more concrete, we will update you and fill you in. For now, we are back to meeting together again as a staff team to worship, pray, train, and plan and digging back into our team’s ministries from outreach!
Personal update:
We returned from our road trip nearly one month ago now, and have enjoyed settling back into our apartment after living at the Wave house with the students for the past few months. This month we have been trying to be proactive in fostering friendships, dreaming together, and staying excited about this very unknown season. Something we have been open about is that these past two years we have found it difficult to invest in friendships outside of the DTS students and staff team. We of course love the friendships we have in the team but also know it’s healthy to have relationships outside of our working environment (especially now knowing that we are committed here for another 4 years, and in the DTS department people come and go every 6 months). Now, we know we need to create a routine that priorities making time for friendships. We are eager to do that this year as we slowly transition into a new role, so that once we’re fully in it, we already have healthy habits and boundaries set up. This coming week we are watching our friends 6 kids for a few days so they can have a get away, we do this for them once or twice a year and really enjoy it, so were looking forward to this! The end of August is filled with staff training, staff retreats, and online conferences, and continued preparation.
On a more personal level, some of you have been asking about Sam’s back. It’s been a year now, since the surgery and he is continuing to heal very well. He is working hard to continue stretching and strengthening, especially in his core, to ensure that the good results from the surgery last as long as possible. Lately Sam has really been enjoying some extra time to read and listen to podcasts lately. He has been finding a rhythm of letting God lead him into the deeper waters of our mysterious faith. He has found fun, solace, peace, and understanding in his friendship with Jesus, which is translating into more relational ministry with those around him. This is an exciting time for Sam, because he sees it as foundational for the coming things that God is wanting to do.
Karis has really felt God awaken her heart even more to evangelism these past months. Of course, as Christians we believe we should always be a light, but Karis feels like lately she has a new boldness and urgency growing inside her that won’t seem to shut off every time she is out and about. It has been fun to see the conversations, friendships, and stories that have come from these moments. She feels she is still very much growing in this area but is eager to grow in being led by Holy Spirit as she goes about her day in new ways. Karis has also been feeling the grief of knowing it will still me another year until she is able to visit home, and see friends and family she hasn’t seen in three years by that time. This has made her more easily homesick lately, and she finds herself aching for comfort in family. She knows it’s an opportunity to sink deeper into God’s comfort and dependence on Him. She is learning the unknown balance of allowing herself to feel those deep emotions while also choosing growth and hope.
Finally, as usual, we want to tell each one of you who has followed along with us over the last two years and supported us in prayer, advice, encouragement, and finances just how much it means to us and, we believe, to God. We hope that through our updates, you feel the integral role you play in both our lives and also the lives of the people that God has touched through us. Your generosity has a profound affect whether it’s your time, your money, your prayer, or your gifts. That being said, since we are at the beginning of a new commitment, we will begin support-raising again. Though we had hoped to be home and be able to meet with many of you, we would still love to be able to zoom, face-time, or talk on the phone with you if you want to join our team of supporters or you’d like to talk more about this opportunity! We are open to any questions you might have or anything you would like to talk more about. Please also pray for us as we start this process again that we would simply draw closer to God through it. We are striving to completely trust God’s provision—we have seen it over and over through people and other avenues! If you are already supporting us through a one-time donation or monthly donations, we really honor that you made a two year commitment and will be contacting you each personally to talk about if you want to continue to support us or not, so please keep your eyes open for a message coming your way!
We love you all and, as always, would love to hear back about what’s going on in your lives and how we can be praying for you!
Blessings,
Samuel and Karis
Taking a hike in NSW where we visited some friends on our road trip
living out of our car on our road trip, Sam build a bed frame out of scrap wood which allowed for storage underneath!
Tyler and Georgia, our close friends that recently got engaged that we visited in NSW
Our camp ground home
Beautiful Ocean
Enjoying lots of quality time on our road trip
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