Hey you guys! Josh and I are so sorry for our silence, and we can't thank you guys enough for continuing to pray support us even through the silence.. We have finally launched our Adventures Youth program and all the 42 staff that Josh and I recruited are now on the field preparing for their first round of youth groups! Through Adventures Youth we are mobilizing over 2400 youth into the missions field this summer! Needless to say we hit the ground running, and haven't stopped since. But it has ALL been worth it!
Let me start at the beginning, because I'm not even sure we have had the chance to explain to you what we have been up to…
Month 8 of the World Race Josh and I felt called to Cambodia. Since then Cambodia has been burning on our hearts and we still can't wait to return! Through prayer and much consideration we decided we needed to get some sort of training before we just hopped out on the field to bring development to this little orphanage that we fell in love with. As we prayed we felt like God was leading us to continue partnering with Adventures In Missions (the organization that we went on the Race with). We decided since we already had a relationship with them and knew their culture we would love to join their apprenticeship program and get some discipleship training/ make plans for getting back to Cambodia and what that would look like, while also working part time on the other side of the missions organization to get a behind the scenes look. We had it all planned out! God's ways are not our ways, however, and right before we came down to Georgia there was a big transition in AIM that caused several things to change.
The idea of having a season where we would be poured into and only work part time flew out the window real quick. Though there was dissapoinment, I want to let you know from the start it was what God had for us, and this season has been amazing. Josh and I came on to work with an outstanding team of 5 other people in the Adventures Youth section of AIM. When we began in January we were starting from the ground up. Our boss had just taken over this field and everything was being made new. So with that Josh and I got to be a part of the whole development process of this field! It's funny how God worked that out.. Because though things will look completely different as we bring development to Cambodia, He was allowing us to learn development through work we were doing in a cubical! From making up the application and interview process to creating the curriculum for the summer and setting up 11 sites, Josh and I have learned SOOO much..
Then Josh and I got to go recruit all of our staff and set up the teams for the summer! What Adventures Youth wants to bring is the idea of a structured, organized missions trip for these youth groups. At each site we will have 4 staff on location for the summer. They will be in charge of making sure things are organizedand and they will be empowering the teens on their missions trip to lead, coach, and serve! For kids ministry and sports ministry we have curriculum that our staff will present to the teens and then allow the teens to actually lead these ministries! We want to present the idea that you are never to young to lead to these teens! And then we also have one person on site that will set up a ministry service project by connecting with other ministries in the area and setting up some way each group can be the hands and feet of Christ! For our staff it will look somewhat like a summer camp. They will have a similar routine, with back to back weeks of new youth groups coming in on their missions trip. And we are not only excited that our staff will be bringing empowerment to these teens, but we are also excited that this will be a lif changing summer for the staff as well! They will each grow in their leadership skills, and in learning to hear God's voice! They also get to grow/be refines as they live in a close knit community of their teams. In this environment we encourage them to practice "Feedback" which is a healthy way of communicating and calling each other to greatness. It's hard, but so good to learn. And then we encourage them to practice speaking life to each other, and encouraging each other in the God given gifts and talents that they are walking in.
We just had training camp, got to spend a few days with Josh's family in Myrtle Beach, had a friend visit us from Malaysia, and will now be going to our Atlanta site this Friday to help lead them through their first official week with youth groups!
So like I said, it has been CRAZY busy, but it was ALL worth it! It has been so exciting to see the fruit of our labor, and to see the work that God has been doing in the lives of our staff already! It's so cool to see it all come together and to know that through this program many lives will be changed for the Kingdom!
Soon, things will be slowing down~ which will be just in time to give us a few weeks to really get things prepared for BABY RENE! We are so excited to meet our new addition and we can't wait to find out what it is!!! I'm not going to lie, it's been hard waiting to find out, but I think it will all be worth the surprise on that day!=) God has given me an amazingly smooth pregnancy which I am so thankful for and I pray that our transition into parenthood will be just as smooth! I will be transitioning out of AIM at the end of June, and then we will completely transition out at the beginning of August so we can see this program all the way through to the end of the summer. God has been so faithful in providing another job for Josh which will start right around then.. (God's perfect timing!)
So though we hoped to be back in Cambodia by early next year~ our plans have been delayed, but for good reasons~ God's Kingdom! We hope to begin planning for Cambodia as soon as this next season of life starts (after our transitions)! So please join with us in prayer as to what that will look like and when God's timing is.. When I start to get impatient with it I remind myself that God will get us there EXACTLY when HE wants us there..
And though this season didn't turn out anything like we though it would, it was ALL worth it, and I know that God was teaching us things this year that we will need for the future. He is GOOD, always!
Thanks again for all of your love, prayers and support.. You truly have shown us His love.. We miss and love you all!
