Onto the next thing

Hello everyone!

We are hoping your summers on the other side of the equator have gotten off to a good start while our winter is setting in! We miss all of you, and can’t wait to catch up with you when it becomes possible! We last updated you in the last days of April, so it has now been two months—we are so sorry for the delay. Two months ago, we had only just begun our outreach in the Sunshine Coast with our wonderful team of eight students. The school has since finished and we want to fill you in on this and more!

In April, we told you about IFYS, the horse farm, and our community projects, which comprised most of our outreach. Upon finishing outreach, we saw a fuller picture of God’s grace and favor in each realm—the relationships formed and impact left was remarkable. We were even able to facilitate an outreach team from Brisbane in continuing with these things for two weeks after we finished! While this outreached yielded much different fruit than previous ones, we know that the connections that have been formed will last longer and yield more than we can see right now. We saw, on a daily basis, that as we opened ourselves to the leading of the Holy Spirit, God led us through a variety of wide-open doors in people’s lives and in otherwise mundane circumstance. We are so grateful to be able to continue serving in each of these main areas in the future!

We would love to share a short story from the horse farm with you from the outreach. Karis and some of the girls were at the farm one day when care giver and the woman she cares for came for a visit and a ride. They had been once before and decided to start coming every other week. The young woman in need of care has extreme anxiety with any type of heights and will go into an uncontrollable meltdown with the slightest hill in her sight. While talking with her and her caregiver, Karis started to share how fear had crippled her for so long, especially when it came to water, but she found freedom from this fear when she called on the power of Jesus. The care giver was very open and was encouraged by the story and asked the young lady she cares for if while she tries to get on the horse and go over a small hill she would like to call on the power of Jesus. She excitedly responded yes! Karis was of course ecstatic and excited for God to show up and reveal His power and Love to this young woman. Karis had two students with her and as they began to carefully walk the young woman’s horse with her on it, they neared a small hill. The young woman began to breath heavily and quickly and her eyes darted all about her as she started to panic. Karis again asked her is she could call on Jesus to bring peace, in which she quickly nodded her head yes. Karis began to pray out and the students began to sing worship songs, within second as we went down the hill, the young lady’s panic and extreme anxiousness left and she was able to go over the hill. She was so proud of herself and we were so excited that she saw the power of Jesus bring peace into a situation where she hadn’t experienced peace before. We know that this anxiety is still a very real struggle for this young lady but we also know that that day she experienced God’s power and love. She has continued to come to the farm and Karis has been able to keep growing in relationship with the young lady and her care giver. We are excited to see how God will continue to shower His love and presence into these situations.

After outreach finished in the beginning of June, the other three outreach teams came back to the Waves House, our student accommodation, to have one more lecture week focused on debrief and re-entry. Students got the opportunity to begin to deeply process the impact of the previous five months and get perspective into healthy ways to go back home and continue in the lifestyle they developed on DTS. During this week, we found it incredible to hear stories from the other teams who were so close to us geographically, but might as well have been across the country because of social distancing. The week finished with an unconventional graduation ceremony at the Waves House and a traditional hangi where our base leader cooked a startling amount of beef and pork on hot rocks buried in a pit in our back yard. Sam responded by eating exclusively meat, while Karis stuck with the mashed potatoes. Looking back on this school, the most noticeable thing is the grace and strength of God that was our sustenance. John, our base leader, described the school as “wild”, which actually may have been an understatement, but not because of our circumstances. God transformed a group of people as they sought His presence and shed the “old man”. John listed off some highlighted moments, and for each one of us in the room, these highlights only led us down a rabbit trail of remembering the countless, miraculous ways that God worked in and through us during the school. In discussion, much of the school still leaves us in awestruck stuttering—God has delivered us, sustained us, and loved us in miraculous ways and ways He will never get credit for. We are truly thankful for this school and our outreach, and there is little we can do but strive to give God the glory He deserves for everything He does that we see and everything we don’t see.

After graduation, because of flight situations, many students are sticking around Australia traveling, trying to rest, and getting perspective and direction before going home. At this point, most students are home, but a few are waiting for their flights in early July or are not going home before stating the School of Biblical Studies on the Sunshine Coast in September. As for us, the week after graduation, we had two days of staff debrief. This time was invaluable as we had time to pray and worship together, process the school and outreach, and spend concentrated time being led through an accounting of everything that happened. One simple yet powerful activity we did was make a giant timeline of the last six months with all of the staff. We began to see all that had happened and all God had done in the last half year, which sparked tears, laughter, thankfulness, and fellowship in our staff team. We then went into a personal reflection time with questions to think and pray through. It was incredible to see the distance covered in what felt like the blink of an eye.

Since then, we have had almost two weeks to continue to process the school together. We are finding ourselves in a time of crawling out of the survival mode that we mentioned in our last update. Though we became aware of this state of mind in April, it’s taken a bit of a freer schedule and plate to butter us into a more personally reflective mindset, which brings us to now! We are writing you from a suburb of Sydney called Newtown, where we are staying with our friend Elise and the Booker family at the Newtown YWAM base. On June 23rd, we left for a road trip—one that we were originally planning for last year—south to Sydney and Newcastle in New South Wales. Since our apartment is being rented by the staff that were renting it while we were on outreach, we thought it would be the perfect time to rest and decompress on the road. We have slept in our car along beautiful beaches, seen more of the incredible coast of Australia, visited friends, and been able to rest, process, and pray about the near and coming future. Soon, we will go to Newcastle on our way back north to stay with our dear and newly engaged friends, Tyler and Georgia, for a week. After that, the four of us will go camping in NSW for a few days before we part ways with them and head back toward the Sunshine Coast. God has lined this trip up perfectly for us, and we feel more blessed than ever by the ways He has met us since we’ve left. One of the main purposes of this trip has been to get space and time to pray and seek God for next steps. Since our two years of staffing is coming to a close, and we feel Him leading us into at least another two years here, we are asking Him for purpose for the coming time. At the moment, we are praying into this direction and hope to have more clarity that we can share with you all at the end of July.

Until then, after we return to the Sunny Coast, we will continue to rest and pray while also reengaging with the ministries we started on outreach! Since there will not be a DTS, the next 8 weeks before the potential September school (depending on whether borders open to international students) are open to improving our facilities and investing in the cultural and spiritual health of our base and our community. We are excited to see how God will work in these areas. As previously mentioned, we will not be coming home in July, but we will continue to assess when the best time for us to make the trip will be. We are sad to not be able to make this trip home, especially since Karis hasn’t been home for two years now. Although we could get into America, Australia would not let us back in, and its very unclear on how long they will keep the borders shut. We don’t have peace about returning to Milwaukee knowing that Australia would potentially not let us in for another 6 months. Its hard to not know when we will be able to come home for a visit or see family and friends, but were confident God has this and His Grace will cover us in the difficult moments.

By the end of July, we are wanting to give you all some more clarity on where our lives and ministry are heading. Until then, please know how much we appreciate your prayers and support. God is at work in the world and it’s in Him we have our hope—even in the tumult of our world. Please continue to message us with life updates and prayer requests! We love you all!

Samuel and Karis

Photos (we don't have many photos from times of ministry, sorry!)

1. We had a lovely time of worship at the park while watching the sunset

2. At the end of outreach We took our outreach team for 2 nights to a macadamia nut farm in the hinterlands, where a lovely elderly man lets us stay on his property and have time of worship and prayer.

3. Some of the girls in the tractor helping with feeding the horses at the farm!

4. The farm we volunteered at is run by a very lovely woman who has become dear to our hearts and who loved having our team around!

5. One of the students from our outreach team had to leave at the end of outreach (not stay through debreif week and graduation) because it was the last flight to America through her airline. We were very sad to send her off, but loved praying for her on the ride to the airport, knowing that God has beautiful things in store for her at home in New York.

6. Another post from the lovely Atalanta (owner of the farm)

7. During debrief week we made a sign with words that we felt described Gods character to us during our outreach.

8. All dressed up for graduation!

9. Now onto the road trip to Sydney! This is Karis' friend who she went to highschool with, they now both love Jesus wahoo! Angie now lives in sydney with her Australian husband as they prepare to move to Indonesia as missionaries in the coming year or so. We sopped and had some time with them for a few days on our road trip. It was so fun and we really wish they lived closer to the sunshine coast!

10. Sleeping in the car on the way to Sydney. Sam built a little frame from scrap wood in our midsize vehicle with storage underneath!

12. Us at one of the beautiful look outs on our drive down to sydney!