God did it!

Our family leaves on Monday, April 1 to go to URUGUAY!! A month ago, we had a huge goal of raising $24,000 in order to be able to go, and we are down to $0! We praise God for his faithfulness! We invited people to be part of our sending team, and God put it on several hearts to join us. Many of them were our students!! 😍 THANK YOU to all who contributed! He continues to show us that if we say yes to what He is asking (and what often can appear to be impossible), He will provide. He has a heart for Uruguay and families in La Paloma, and we get to join him in what He is already doing there!

Team Culture

We have been working hard as a team to prepare. Last week, one of the pieces we worked on is who we want to be known as. Please pray that we will be able to stay close to the heart of God so that we are leaning on him for strength. There are always challenging parts of outreach, but the bullet-points below describe how we hope for Jesus to show up through us. This also gives a glimpse into the hearts of the families we are taking. We want people to say of us:

• They relied on Jesus!!!
• They were full of the Holy Spirit
• This team was rooted in prayer and worship
• They were always so thankful, even when it was hard
• They were servant-hearted and weren’t complainers
• Their attitude was: “No job is not my job!” 
• They were willing to do anything.
• They were here to serve, not be served.
• They were positive, joyful and loving!
• They were SINCERE!
• They were FUN!!!!!!
• They brought light and kept things light!
• Their marriages and families were strong, even in stressful situations.

Cristian’s dad, Chelo, happened to be in Kona for a leadership meeting (he runs the YWAM base in Pichilemu, Chile). Our new team members got to meet him which was really fun!

Prayer

Kathe and Cristian (the leaders of the base where we will be going) had quite a week! There were tornados and hurricane-like weather, and they sent a message asking us to pray. We are thankful to report that everyone is safe, and the weather lasted for fewer days than projected. Here is a link to a fun (or scary) video of the storm from the YWAM La Paloma base (https://youtu.be/-JjIRUxnlGI?si=KCJLsDZ8MuTHMMPF ) and an after picture. I’ve been in some scary storms, and I am always amazed at how powerful weather can be. We are thankful for being able to go to God who created everything.

A momma’s prayer

As excited as I am to go, there is one part of me that will be left in Kona: Natalie. Please pray for our family as we are apart for these two months. She is unable to go because her school is a hands-on, project-based learning school where attendance is a major part of the learning. She is both sad and excited – sad because she will miss us, excited because Jeff’s family will be taking turns watching her in our place. She also really loves school, so we are thankful for that.

Speaking of school, last night was Natalie’s prom. It was a proud momma moment for me and Jacqueline, my friend who is the mom of Natalie’s friend who went with her. Our girls sewed their own prom dresses without a pattern of any kind. We love their creativity and that they took on something that is both fun and challenging. We thought they looked lovely.

Jeff, Natalie, Joanna and David (dads and daughters)

Join Us

With us leaving one week from today, we would love for you to pray with us and for us. You are our support team. We believe so strongly that when we pray, we partner with God’s heart to bring his love and abundant life to earth. He is not a controlling God who decides what will and won’t happen, rather he invites us to work alongside him to bring his love to others and to fight against death, darkness and destruction of the evil one. We do that through prayer, and we do that by doing what he asks us to do.

THANK YOU FOR EVERY WAY YOU HAVE BEEN PART OF OUR TEAM!!!!

P.S. Caleb isn’t mad, he’s practicing his tough face.

P.P.S. Areana’s friend threw her a party, so she didn’t make it for the picture. We are thankful for this community that embraces all of our kids!

Areana got to fly over Kona with a fellow staff member (Ray Siebring) who is part of Mission Aviation Fellowship. This couple has been so generous to every family in FDTS, donating beautiful flight time for our kids and families!!! 

Links to support our family through one-time or monthly gifts:

YWAM account (tax-deductible): https://ywamkona.my.site.com/staff/s/donate?id=6938 It’s also great to send gifts (not tax-deductible) to our PayPal (please send as “friends and family”) or Venmo. https://www.paypal.me/toriswan https://venmo.com/u/Tori-Swan