TEAM URUGUAY
This was originally posted on January 28, 2024. We discovered that my blog posts have not been going out for some time, so this is a test as well as a re-post. If you have not been receiving emails, I invite you to read previous posts as well. Blessings! Tori
We have our team! If you look closely, you will see us in the picture below, being held in Britain’s hands. We were out sick when “The Reveal” of outreach teams took place, but we still got to watch on FaceTime. It was so fun when our team discovered they were “Team Uruguay” and to see them jump up and down, high five and hug teammates and smile from ear to ear. It is always so much fun to learn about where you get to spend a couple of months applying what you are learning. In past years, families have gone on outreach and stayed in that country long-term with no plans of doing so at first. One of our families that we took to Mexico last year is now full-time in South Africa (see picture near the bottom of the letter)! It’s so fun to see where God leads families!
The team that Jeff and I will lead is made up of the above couples. From left to right, they are Shoko and Bold from Mongolia, Hakon and Elise from Norway, Amanda and Nick from Maryland (USA), Tor Gunnar and May-Linn from Norway and Johnny and Britain from Arkansas and Texas (USA). Together, we are 25 people with all of our kids. We also get the team with the most newlyweds! This is a fun-loving, sincere, deep group of people! We are incredibly excited about what lies ahead. Pray for our team to get off to a good start. We will leave April 1st for Uruguay.
WHO IS GOD?
Week two of class was entitled “Who God Is” and dug deep into the loving, gentle, merciful character of God. We learned from the founders of the Family DTS School, Brian and Tara Riley. Brian was a corporate lawyer who struggled to find his self-worth despite much success, being a Christian and having everything he needed. He and his wife were on the verge of divorce after infidelity when they decided to try a DTS as one last hope to save their family. They were radically changed by God’s love, sold their home and possessions and became missionaries so they could bring hope to as many families as possible. After pioneering Family DTS in Kona in 2013, they built a strong team and foundation that ran the school here in Kona for many years. After establishing this FDTS school, they ended up going back to Arkansas where they now have pioneered a new YWAM base and are running another Family DTS closer to home.
Brian and Tara are the two (below) sitting at the middle tables in the center of our group of students. This is our classroom, and these are the people we are running beside for the next few months. Our students range in age from 20 to 65. We love training time!!
FRIENDSHIP WITH GOD
This past week, Dan Baumann spoke in our class. Dan lived in Afghanistan for ten years as well as other places in the middle east. He also spent time in prison in Iran after a really confusing turn of events. I am attaching a link to his book, Cell 58, in case you would like an interesting read: https://a.co/d/3dWvOKh Dan faced death many times in his life, both in and out of prison, yet he walks with such assurance of the love of the father and trusts the character of God. I am including some quotes of his that I wrote down that really resonated with me.
Get so consumed by God’s character that you are okay with making mistakes in decision-making. In the face of fear, run straight into the arms of Jesus, the Perfect LOVE who casts out fear.
Work FROM the approval of God, not for it.
We cannot run God’s love through a grid of what we deserve, we have to run it through a grid of his unconditional love for us. It’s not about what we deserve, it’s about his goodness.
It’s not easy to summarize the impact of Dan’s teaching this week. Some felt truly loved by God for the first time because their eyes were opened to who God really is. I so often wish I could have ALL of you in class with us! God is doing so much in our hearts!
KAHIKOLU CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
Another great part of our week was community outreach. Jeff has been working hard over the last couple of months with local Hawaiians and fellow YWAM missionaries to set this up. Every Wednesday from 1:00-5:00, we get out into the community and do different forms of outreach.
The first one I will share about is helping the Kahikolu Congregational Church maintain their property and buildings.The pictures below show some of our students and their kids working together to clean and remove weeds from the church grounds. Here in Hawaii, plants (and cockroaches) grow like crazy and make it challenging to maintain any land! This congregation is so thankful to have help!
This is the second oldest church in the Hawaiian islands and has a really beautiful story (link included below). It is composed mostly of local Hawaiians and has such a family feel to it, and we have been enjoying building relationships with those who attend here.
We strongly believe that we are missionaries to the people of Hawaii as well as to people in other countries. Hawaii has an incredibly rich Christian history that started before any missionaries even came to the islands. God has been at work here for hundreds of years, and it is an honor to be part of what He has been doing for so long.
Bold and Megan giving the windows a clearer outlook.
https://www.hvcb.org/listing/kahikolu-congregational-church/109402/
WE LOVE WHAT WE DO!
Working with families is one of our greatest joys! But what happens to the families we work with after DTS is over? Many of them go back home with a missional focus in their regular workplace, some go into ministry and others become full-time missionaries. Rudi and Stella (from Germany) were on our Mexico team last year and now are full-time missionaries in South Africa. Little Darline was with us too, but Benaiah is a new edition as of November 28, 2023. We love this family and feel so privileged that we got to work beside them for a season!
PRAYER
Thank you again for your love and support. For those who are praying with us, here are some specific ways you can pray:
- For our kids to continue to grow in the knowledge of how deep, high, wide and beautiful God’s love is
- For health
- For financial partners
- For spirit-led wisdom as we walk with our students
- For the practicals of outreach to come together
- That we would be a blessing everywhere we go
Please let us know how to pray for you as well! Seriously, email me! Email anyway. It is always so encouraging to hear from our friends and family.
BY REQUEST
I’ve been encouraged by some friends to keep sharing our needs for outreach, so I will regularly send updates along with more emails during this DTS. We are down to $24,000 (since the original post, we are now halfway there!) that we need to raise in order to be able to go to Uruguay. We’d be honored and blessed to have you be part of the team who is sending us. We commit to faithfully steward this calling of sharing God’s love and hope with others. Whether you feel led to give a one-time gift, to be ongoing supporters of us as missionaries or both, the best place to give is through our YWAM account:
https://ywamkona.my.site.com/staff/s/donate?id=6938
It’s also okay to send gifts (not tax-deductible) to our Venmo or PayPal (please use friends and family setting).
https://www.paypal.me/toriswan
Or use the PayPal QR Code:
We are so thankful for you all,
Jeff, Tori and the gang
Mailing address: 75-5851 Kuakini Hwy #189 // Kailua-Kona, HI 96740
Laundry Day. This was not posed. There were a couple minutes left for their loads to finish, and Natalie and Zech simultaneously did this. I had to document it. Laundry day is serious business for a family of eight!