Covid-19…

To kick off with, we’ve been very fortunate in remaining healthy as a family during this time. We have a number of parks/green spaces within walking distance to where we live and have been making the most of them during this lockdown. York in relative terms, hasn’t had a high number of cases of Covid-19 (about 450 cases out of the 200,000 population) but as a city that is driven by tourism, there will no doubt be implications to businesses and livelihoods, due to the lengthy travel restrictions.

Following government guidelines we’ve all been based at home most of the day. The kids have been remarkably resilient although do clearly miss family, friends and playgroups/nursery. Our rhythm as a family means I (Dave) work in the mornings, we have lunch and then go out for some exorcise together in the afternoon before dinner. We’re realizing more and more that as parents, we can’t provide all the human interaction that the girls are craving so despite Zoom, FaceTime etc it can be stretching for all of us to not have the wider network of relationships we used to enjoy so freely!

We were hoping to head back to the States this summer as it’s been 5 years since we were last in Colorado, it’s been really hard to let go of this trip. We were really excited about getting quality time with family and friends and introducing the girls. All being well, we’re planning to make the trip next year instead.

Portrait Series

I have been able to continue working on the ongoing series of portraits that I have been developing for a book project in collaboration with a friend and church leader. Working digitally means I can set up in our bedroom and keep drawing. I’m hugely enjoying working on this series and realize again how much I come alive when creating art.

Above: Kiara joining me in my makeshift office (bedside table), continuing to work on a digital portrait series, one of our many Zoom leaders gatherings

Hosting YWAM Leader Zoom Gatherings

One of the roles I have within YWAM is, along with a friend, Lucy, to facilitate our National Leadership Forum. This is essentially, our broadest circle of leaders here in YWAM England, made up of location leaders, ministry leaders and elders in our nation. Since Covid-19 emerged, we felt led to gather these leaders online via Zoom every 2 weeks to encourage one-another, pray and discern what God might be saying to us as YWAM here in England in this time. Like many of us, we’ve been learning the incredible benefits of technology and figuring out how we remain connected during these strange times. Our most recent gathering was particularly rich, as we joined with about 100 other leaders from across Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England and among other things, took communion together. God has been leading people to approach this season of lockdown in so many different and varied ways within our YWAM family across England, there have been teams making meals for the vulnerable, people making face masks and PPE for key workers and serving local food banks to mention a few. Broadly it seems many of us are being invited into a time of re-focusing, evaluating, renewal and preparation for all that is to come after the lockdown.

Change on the horizon… Howland’s are on the move…

Many of you will know of our dear friends, Doug and Beth Howland (above). We have journeyed together in YWAM for about 12 years, in both Leeds and York. Over recent months Doug and Beth have felt God leading them as a family to move to Baltimore in the States. They will join the YWAM team there and Doug will enroll full time in studying art. We can see so much of how this is a great decision and fit for them as a family and are excited for all that God has in store for them. That being said, it also means a grieving process for us. They are really close friends and have been a huge part of our lives for the last 12 years, they have shaped us, encouraged us and inspired us in so many ways. Do keep us in your prayers as we adjust to all the changes their move will bring in our lives and theirs. They are hoping to move at the end of the summer.

There are implications for YWAM here in York as the Howland’s leave, with new leadership potentially coming in place, there have been some great conversations around this and a potential group in place to move to York to lead out in this next chapter, the details of this aren’t public yet and with so much up in the air in these times, nothing is set in stone as yet. Again, we would hugely appreciate your prayers that God would be making clear His plans for YWAM York and for wisdom and discernment for all those involved.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this. We’d love to hear how you are doing at the moment..

Much love to you from us all!

Dave, Nicole, Savannah and Kiara

Darius and Suendy Ernst are serving in Cuna Maya, Mexico. It’s a subdivision of a place that many of us associate fondly with beautiful beaches and ultimate relaxation, Cancun! When I think of Cancun I think of the American dream. Sitting on a beach with not a care in the world watching the waves lap along the beach. Listening to sounds of the water roll rhythmically along the coast. It’s a place of beauty and intrigue. Yet we have two people partnered with our church that have come to see a very different side of this great vacation paradise. They are uniquely different even from each other, but I find myself able to relate easily to both.

Darius grew up in a very small town in Alaska with his parents who were themselves missionaries. If you listened to the podcast a few months ago you got a good picture of the culture that Darius grew up in when I interviewed his parents. Let’s put it this way, the village Darius grew up in was cold, dark, and quite small. In fact, coming back to Salida for visits was like visiting the big city, and this was back before Salida was the booming metropolis it is today. He went along as many missionary kids do struggling to find his own purpose in life, and even spent a few years in flat-out rebellion of God. However, in his early twenties God got ahold of his heart and didn’t let go.

He was a young man unsure of what he wanted in life, but he knew he was looking for warmer weather and to expand upon his new faith. He decided to attend Youth With A Mission’s Discipleship Training School in Denver, Colorado, soaking up the sun and riding the frozen waves on his snowboard. Life was good, he’d come a long way, and wasn’t in a hurry to get anywhere else fast. However, during his discipleship program, God started to really guide his heart toward long-term missions. He was starting to frequently take teams to Mexico and do short term mission trips, when he met the woman of his dreams.

Suendy was raised in the church, having come to Christ at a young age. Her heart had been on the mission field for many years and it seemed like just a matter of time before God called her away from her home. She studied the Bible, learned another language and was simply waiting for that call. A long-time believer, Suendy understood patience with God’s timing, however she never did see God’s call in the way she expected. Eventually, He made it clear to her that she was ultimately being called to serve God in her own country and culture. Even though her heart was for missions, Suendy was being told that she wouldn’t be leaving. She stayed in Mexico though and continued to serve Christ locally and got involved with YWAM serving as a translator for teams that would come to assist with short term trips. Wouldn’t you know it one of the leaders on one of those teams was in fact Darius.

Today the two of them along with their daughter, Grace, oversee the entire YWAM Cancun operation. This is a set of programs that has 23 staff members working over a large variety of projects. They run their own DTS program at this point in order to bring in other members who have a desire to be fostered in their relationship with Christ and pushed to learn to serve more and be able to put Christ at the forefront of all their future endeavors. They run two local programs for kids called Kingdom School and Kingdom Academy. During Kingdom School, they work with 120 kids and 30 moms from the local community discipling and working with outreach. Kingdom Academy is a program that they have begun where 19 kids go to full time Christian School which offers all the same accreditation that kids from the United States would graduate with. They teach a lot of English in this program in order to help kids get a job after they graduate because Cancun is so steeped in tourism.

Due to the abject poverty that many know as reality living in the communities of Cuna Maya, one of the largest needs is simply a safe and secure place to live. Many homes in Cuna Maya are built because people gave all they had to move to Cancun in hope of finding work, but when they arrived work was hard to find. These people have built many of their homes out of anything that they could find. Sticks and discarded items in this place can become a home. Often, the people dwelling there don’t even have a real floor or a ceiling. So YWAM Cancun now runs a program called a Dry Roof and a Solid Floor. The point of this program is to help people build secure homes, safe from the elements. Most of these homes are vast upgrades from current living situations and yet they are simple cinder block homes about 14 feet by 14 feet housing whole family units. This program also asks the people receiving the homes to take ownership in the process and assist in building their own homes.

The last time that Darius was in Salida he preached, and he talked about simply taking the next step and trusting God. He mentioned that many times he will come to his team with something that God has laid on his heart to do in Cuna Maya, and the whole team will say, “How are we going to do that?” Darius has learned that it’s not about waiting to start until the entire plan is in place. The idea is to follow God and allow him to lead you step by step. Today I see a young man who grew up in Alaska as a missionary, then decided he didn’t want anything to do with God. Somehow he found a woman who grew up in Mexico knowing she wanted nothing more than to serve God and knowing that she was going to be a missionary. Neither one of them knew they would end up where they are today, but in both instances, it started with a simple commitment to follow Christ and let him lead one step at a time. As they’ve followed His steps, He’s led them to each other in a place that neither one of them thought they would be in with a huge influence and outreach in their community.

One final thought that I really latched onto was in thinking about Suendy’s story. She knew she wanted to be a missionary, but God opened her eyes and said, “What about the mission field I have already laid in front of you?” Instead of being angry or frustrated she simply started walking in faith, and now her impact in that community is vast. Often, we think missionaries are people that God sends across the globe, yet all our biggest fields of service already lie in front of us. I wonder what we could do in our own communities if we simply decided to allow God to lead us one step at a time and not worry about the final plan being in place. Then we could just walk with him step by step and let him lead us down the path that he has prepared for us. What would Salida, Chaffee County, this state, or even this country look like if we all had that kind of faith?

Picture spending years striving for your dream and praying and hoping that the right opportunity would come along. Suddenly you find an opportunity that seems to tick every single box on your checklist. You change everything in your life to make that happen including moving to a brand-new culture with your young children. You’ve left your life behind in exchange for a new one and seem almost certain that it’s the place that you are supposed to be. God couldn’t make it any clearer from your perspective. Suddenly you are back home wondering what went wrong and what you missed. It would be easy to picture yourself in this situation and feel like this is where that story ends. You gave up everything and you knew everything was lined up perfectly and suddenly it all came crashing down. What if I told you that a decade later you would find yourself not in what you pictured as the perfect fit but instead in the exact right place God had for you, even though it didn’t look anything like what you thought it would. Suddenly it occurs to you that God wasn’t making the perfect fitting glove for you, but instead he was taking the time to shape you to fit the perfect glove.

I’ve heard story after story of people who thought they were in the right place only to find that God had so much more for them than they expected. This is the exact story of our ministry partners Matt and Kristy Messick. For them the story of their marriage began in Africa in 2001 when, by what many would see as mere happenstance, they stepped onto the same bus. However, this was no chance meeting. They both had a passion for missions and had found their way into West Africa for separate reasons, but after a little time together on the bus they knew they needed more time together. That was almost two decades ago, and ever since they have been building their lives towards full time overseas missions.

At the time it seemed to them that West Africa would likely be where they ended up because it was what they knew best and loved most at that point. They were living in Salida as members of Grace Church waiting for the right opportunity to go into the field. When the Campbells came back from their assignment to Senegal, the Messicks knew they needed to make a connection. It was through the Campbells that Matt and Kristy became interested in going into the field via WorldVenture. However, through a myriad of circumstances it started to become abundantly clear that God didn’t have West Africa in their future. Even that realization didn’t make perfect sense at the time. It would seem that if you had a desire to go to a certain place and God put people into your lives that were ministering there, then God was putting the pieces together. However, they wouldn’t be deterred and started looking into other locations that God may have for them.

However, God had been preparing his purposes for Matt and Kristy and the Messick crew and soon he would show them where they were headed next. One of the biggest things needed in this life to truly follow Christ is courage to continue taking steps. Often, he puts paths in front of us and allows us to walk the different paths, and he always has something for us along the way. Often the real act of treason to our testimony is looking at the various paths that God has for us and refusing to move forward on any of them. We get comfortable and that comfort typically leaves us feeling content… for a time. However, if we are in this life, we have work to do for the gospel and for the kingdom, so even when the choices are hard, we must get up and start moving again. Matt and Kristy would not sit idly by. Even in their defeat they would look down paths and choose to move again.

The next opportunity that arose was for them to travel to Ecuador. A need arose for ministry partners in the rural areas building and fostering relationships and spreading the good news. They once again packed everything up and got on a plane, this time with a couple more kids, and changed their life again. When they arrived in Ecuador, they knew that the primary goal was to spend a little time brushing up on the language, especially the nuances of Spanish in Ecuador, and then eventually find their way out of the city and into where they had been called. However, God had different plans for them again and through the most unlikely of meetings they would find new purpose.

In needing to brush up on the language, a young woman came by four times a week to talk to them and teach them. Often her lessons would be taught to them through readings about the culture thus killing two birds with one stone. In one way they are learning the language while also learning about the culture. Newspaper clippings and local cultural magazines are a great way to create discussion in a foreign language while also learning about the country you are in. Many of the articles that the Messicks would read would happen to revolve around marriage and the culture of marriage in Latin American cultures. Often after their teacher would leave Matt and Kristy would sit and discuss these articles at length for a couple hours at a time. It seemed that marriage had become something that didn’t have the value in this culture like it does in Matt and Kristy’s own union.

Through spending more time in the city and musing more and more on the concepts that they had been presented with they started to see that God may not have the rural calling that they had originally foreseen. They started to see a need for marital classes that would help both believers and nonbelievers improve their marriages. People throughout the culture were struggling even in the church. In Loja only about one percent of the population is practicing Evangelical Christians with that number dropping to a tenth of a percent or one in a thousand people throughout the province, which means a vast majority of those believers are first generation. They don’t have examples that they grew up watching and often have never even seen a family member open and read a bible. Also, with high numbers of marriages ending in divorce people are often lacking role models of a strong marriage, fidelity, good communication and good conflict resolution. This makes it hard to break away from any cultural norms in favor of biblical teaching. Thus, the Messicks began work on their own marriage course for the people of Loja rather than the bordering rural communities.

Right now, their primary mission is teaching an eight-week course that brings in four to six couples and walks them through different parts of a healthy marriage. What I love most about this course is that they allow the members to lead it, but in turn make it incredibly bible centric. Almost every week will start out with a topic and they will start by having the members of the course share what the culture says about that topic. As an example, when an Ecuadorian couple gets married, they continue to keep all their finances from one another, because culturally you’re taught to continue looking out for yourself instead of becoming one entity. They then turn over their notepad and have the couples in the class tell them what the Bible has to say about that topic. For example, Mark 10:7-8 says, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So, they are no longer two but one flesh.” As the couples start to walk through this guided journey, they get to see that the Bible can offer a great deal of wisdom for their marriages.

This class has been taught to believers and nonbelievers alike. It becomes an unbelievable tool for strengthening existing relationships with Christ and fostering interest in new personal relationships with God. The Messicks found a need in their culture, marital unsteadiness, and meet people at that need. From there they invest heavily in those people through their own relationships and often get the opportunity to then present the Gospel. This reminds me so much of Mark 2:17 when Jesus says, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” Matt and Kristy have found a way to meet people where they are sick and in that manner help to heal not only the wound that is obvious, but also begin to understand the need for larger healing in their soul from their sin.

When you speak with Matt and Kristy now it is so obvious that God has them right where he wants them. They are bold and excited about their work and love sharing story after story about how God is working through the relationships they are developing in these courses. Our interview this month feels like small testimony after small testimony and it was amazing to me that I basically just got out of the way and let their passion and excitement shine through the conversation. I don’t pretend to know all the ways that God works, but I can’t help but think that through the years in Guatemala and then feeling defeated back in the United States, God must have been working on them and teaching them that sometimes the plan isn’t at all what you think it will be. Even when they went to Ecuador, they went with different purpose then what they are doing now. However, I think God had been teaching them along the way that sometimes he opens a path and your job is to just start walking that path faithfully. Perhaps along the way another path will arise and, even though it looks nothing like the map that you had, it may be the exact place that you needed to go.

The Messicks are now living in Ecuador with their six kids and are following God’s guidance every day. They continually find themselves matching up with God’s plan for them. It’s an exciting time and they are completely devoted to helping people in Loja learn how to fight and stand firm for their marriages. They are honoring God with their work and are so excited for big plans to come. Currently they are trying to expand the class that they teach and are looking for God to deliver other instructors into their lives. They are asking for prayer that God would lead someone to them that has a healthy marriage and can help teach this course going forward. With only four to six couples per course they feel like they’d like to be able to offer the course more frequently, but that would require more teachers.

Just like all of us, the Messicks often find themselves struggling with time management. Their other massive prayer request for us as a church body was that we could pray for them to find balance in their ministry and home lives. The topics they are dealing with are heavy and can be difficult because you want to always be available for people, but as Kristy said to me, “Every time I say yes to something, I’m saying no to something else.” When you are investing in a community and a culture it can feel like even a very God honoring yes can end up putting a strain on your own family and asking for God to help them know their balance is a huge need they have in their lives.

I’d love for you to not only pray for the Messicks, but also reach out to them and encourage them. Learn more about what they do directly from the source. They can be reached at themessickcrew@gmail.com. Also, you can support them financially by clicking on the following link going to the following webpage, https://www.worldventure.com/themessickcrew.

Most of my memories of Don and Brenda were of them visiting the house and using it as a home base as they travelled around trying to raise support for their mission work in Alaska. As a kid it was hard to fully understand what they were doing. I remember thinking that when the Ernsts came to town it was like having a vacation. They had three kids themselves, loved to eat junk food, and loved to play cards. Mom would tell me Don and Brenda were coming and it felt a little bit like a break from life. Every time they’d come to town, I’d understand a little more of what they were doing. I remember that I started to realize that Don never got better at cards. He’d be gone for two years and come back and still be as terrible, if not worse, than he was the previous time. How could you never get better when all you were doing was lounging in some small town in Alaska that didn’t even have a movie theater? It just didn’t make sense, so I started paying a little more attention to what they were talking about with my parents when they’d show up and it became clear that their schedule was full. Don and Brenda lived in a small town called Huslia in the Alaskan interior. The village consisted of a people group called the Athabaskan Indians and only about 350 people lived in this village. In the interior of Alaska there are many small villages that have this similar makeup and the only way to access these villages is through plane or boat as roads are nonexistent. The Athabaskan culture is one of tightly knit family circles living off the land and existing in some of the harshest conditions in all the United States. Winters are difficult as the sun smothers the lower hemispheres and barely makes an appearance up north. They’re cold and depressing. People often struggle with mental health issues as well as substance abuse. Life is harsh and unforgiving in the Alaskan bush. One mistake can quickly mean the end of a person. It can feel as though there is an oppressive spirit seeking to take hold in some of these communities, though God has a way of providing light in the darkest of places. Matthew 5:13-16 says that we are the light of the world and we are to let our light shine before others so that they may see our good works and give glory to God.

What does that look like in this type of community? Don and Brenda went to Huslia and literally latched onto the community. Most of the native people there are used to seeing white people show up, do some good things, and then leave. Don and Brenda on the other hand built a life in the community. They built a house to establish roots, started a church and pastored it for their whole duration in Huslia, and spent countless hours building relationships with local people. Mission work is often a combination of meeting the physical needs of people as well as helping them to see that their souls also need healing through the gospel. In a community like Huslia with only 350 people it can be hard to break into the social circles that exist already when one arrives there. However, Don and Brenda immediately jumped in helping with things as simple as gathering firewood, hunting, helping repair homes and tending to those grieving after deaths of family members. Also, there was a specific reason Don and Brenda were a good fit for Alaska. Don was a pilot.

Since there are only two ways to travel in the backcountry in Alaska, if you specialize in one of those you will become very useful for any community. Don had learned to fly in Salida and would tell you that during that time, God was also working diligently on his heart and relationship with Christ. As he grew closer to God and found a passion for flying, it became clear that God needed him for a particular purpose. Don was able to fly between villages to support other missionaries as well as move small mission teams around the interior. He even used his plane to fly kids to Bible camp who otherwise wouldn’t be able to attend. As long as I’ve known Don, he’s been the missionary who flew people all over Alaska and he’s been passionate about what he does. However, flying can be tricky in those conditions. Don has crashed three airplanes over the years and come through a few sticky situations where God’s hands were more than evident in protecting his servant. For roughly 27 years, Don and Brenda lived in Huslia and ran a church, youth groups, invested into relationships in the village and flew anywhere they were called. They loved the village and felt like the people there were their own family. Don even describes his relationship with the village as himself almost making a covenant with God that he wouldn’t leave unless God clearly showed him it was time. They figured they’d die someday in the village as a part of the people they loved so dearly. However, God slowly began to shape their hearts for something different. Don had started to feel like his time in the village was coming to an end and one evening without discussion or provocation Brenda told him that she had been thinking that they were nearing the end of their time in the Huslia. Seemed as though God was working on both of their hearts.

The good news is God works continuously and already had been developing a new young couple to move to Huslia to take over the role that Don and Brenda had lived out. They spent some time there working with the new couple and it finally became clear that for this new young family to thrive, the Ernsts needed to get out of the way. It’s hard to get into these communities, but once you are in it’s even harder to leave. However, God provided a new role that still fit their skill sets as the Regional Ministry Director. Don was now overseeing missionaries throughout the area that were living like they had for so many years and he was frequently flying into different villages to encourage missionaries and help with their ministries. During this time, he began working as an interim pastor at the church they had found in North Pole, Alaska. Don has a gift for preaching and finally decided to apply for and accept the full-time position as pastor of that church. They are now transitioning to a full-time pastoral role while working part time as the Assistant Regional Ministry Director. The life of a missionary is an interesting one. I recently had a meeting with a man I respect greatly who told me that his church refers to his missionaries as ministry partners because the truth is, we are all supposed to be missionaries. Their church partners with these individuals to help each other grow their perspective ministries that God is developing. This helped me to understand some things about Don and Brenda’s story because they are retiring as ‘missionaries’ right now, but what does that actually look like? Instead of being paid through supporters, they are now being paid by a church body of believers. Does this mean that they are no longer missionaries? Not at all. Rather it means that they are doing ministry differently than they were before. Our partnership with them now is as critical as it has ever been. No longer do they need the financial support that they once did, but now they need constant prayer like all our leaders. Leadership of a church is something that is strenuous and demanding and there will be very hard days as a leader of a church. We have developed a relationship with the Ernsts and even though our financial obligations are coming to an end, we must now seek to support each other as best as we can. This has been an interesting story to tell because I know Don and Brenda so well, but I started this Mission Minded for Grace Church project to help support missionaries. Over the past month, my mind has been completely blown by the idea that we are in a partnership with these people and God is using both of us to grow each other. I have been really asking people to reach out and pray for our missionaries every month, and now it’s even more important than I had ever realized. We are in a partnership with a couple that requires no financial help from us. Does that mean we walk away from that partnership because they aren’t traditional missionaries? No! We must now support each other even more through all our other tools as workers for Christ. Start by listening to the podcast that we just recorded and get to know more about Don and Brenda. Then pray for them sincerely as they take on this new role of leadership. Finally connect with them and let them know that you are supporting them through prayer and connect with them as best as you can. Please reach out to them if you have the time and get to know them a little better. They can be reached at dbernst76@gmail.com. Also, if you’d like to learn more about Don and Brenda’s time in Alaska check out the book that Don wrote on Amazon. It’s titled Alaskan Bush Adventures: Lessons from the Land, Lessons from the Lord. Currently you can buy his paperback copy for about $9 and his Kindle version for as little as $3.99! Support the Ernsts and have some fun learning about life in the Alaskan interior all at once.

Music connects with me intimately. A beautiful song can transport me to my youth or help me to empathize with another that I cannot understand because of our circumstances. A melody can gently rock one to sleep or inspire one to break down boundaries that seem insurmountable. It’s among the purest forms of expression that we have in this world. A song can often expose the soul of the composer, it can bond us mortals, and it’s among the greatest forms of praise we have to offer to a God that would offer his own Son as sacrifice for our own iniquities.

One of my all-time favorite artists is a Christian band called Switchfoot. Their lead singer Jon Foreman writes poetry in a way that impacts me deeply as if the words were needles darting straight into my veins and literally revitalizing my flesh. At the end of my time at the restaurant, I remember wondering if I could ever fully explain what I felt in the darkest of times. Don’t misunderstand me; over the course of my restaurant career I experienced many great times but running a restaurant can often feel like you’re being squeezed to death by a boa constrictor and every breath is fire in the lungs. Then Jon Foreman penned the following lyrics…

Been fighting things that I can't see
Like voices coming from the inside of me
Like doing things I find hard to believe in
Am I myself or am I dreaming?

I've been awake for an hour or so
Checking for a pulse but I just don't know
Am I a man if I feel like a ghost?
The stranger in the mirror is wearing my clothes

No, I'm not alright
I know that I'm not right
A steering wheel doesn't mean you can drive
A warm body doesn't mean I'm alive

That’s a bit of a long introduction, but I think it’s important to help facilitate understanding of one of our missionaries. When I spoke to Ryan and Rebecca this week it was easy for me to reflect on the beginning of their journey to Thailand. For most, the place they were at emotionally before getting their call might be hard to understand. The stress and the pure drain that can come from the responsibilities of a small town restaurant can be flat out overwhelming, and sometimes you don’t even know it until you wake up, get dressed, and realize that there’s a “stranger in the mirror wearing my clothes.” I have to believe from my own experiences that this is where Ryan was at when he prayed, “God I don’t care where you send me or what your plans are for me, just make it clear and I’ll go.” This is the type of prayer you generally only pray after you have taken a few hits and frankly are a little desperate. Fortunately, God would meet them not just with a steering wheel, but also with a map just a few hours later.

When Rebecca walked into the gift shop of the Country Bounty later that day she checked her email and found something that would send them on a journey that would show time and time again that God will meet you, lead you, and love you wherever you are. The email had one sentence in the body, “Ryan I think God is calling you to Thailand.” It was an email sent from a family member who had stumbled upon an organization called Frontier Labourers for Christ who were looking for someone with food service and hospitality experience to come and run their facility and host the groups that would be staying at their facility during times of education and spiritual formation. Ryan was 40 years old and had been in the hospitality industry for a staggering 30 years and was looking desperately for a way to leave and go anywhere that God would call him. Seems like God was screaming at him.

It can be very easy to see a time like this in our own life and then spend months trying to figure out all the little details and seeing if it’s even doable, and often times we miss an opportunity simply because we don’t just start taking steps in that direction. Typically, it just starts with taking the first step. For Ryan and Rebecca, they prayed about it that night, inquired about it the next day, and six months later they were on a plane headed to Thailand. Now they spend time thinking about how they didn’t have any of the tools you would expect you would need to take on a task of this magnitude. For example, together they spoke English and a few words of Spanish that they had picked up in the kitchen of the restaurant, most of them less than savory. When I typed “What language is spoken in Thailand?” into Google, the first article I read listed 28 different languages and dialects, and none of them were English or Spanish swear words. This didn’t matter to Ryan and Rebecca. They had been called and they were going.

When they got to Thailand, life was a mix of finding schools for kids, learning how to function in a new society, learning the language, and of course trying to run a facility that had a ton of immediate needs. Let’s just say it was beyond crazy. That wasn’t enough though so they decided to invite two young women into their home to help with room and board as they studied at a local vocational school. Through all the craziness, they came to know one gentleman who would change their purpose in Thailand and change their lives forever. The father of one of these young ladies, a man named Lawpa, was running a dorm that housed 26 students from the hill tribes in northern Thailand. He was helping them receive a general education, but resources were stretched thin and Lawpa needed help. Ryan and Rebecca started serving at the dorm and fell in love with the children.

In order to understand where many of these children come from, you must dig into some of the local history. Myanmar, we know it as Burma, is a country that shares a border with Thailand. It sits Northwest of Thailand and is currently in the midst of the world’s longest running civil war, which dates back all the way to 1948. This has been a bloody conflict that has often included genocide and mass executions. Many village people on the outskirts of Burma have had to flee for sanctuary to bordering countries like Thailand. However, Thailand doesn’t recognize them as citizens of their country either so many of these people are now completely stateless and unwanted by any local government. Not only is obtaining education and employment almost impossible in this situation, it also has become a breeding ground for the ugliest parts of mankind like human trafficking and supplying the sex trade. Lawpa was one of the people that had to flee Myanmar and ended up living in a small village in Thailand afraid and unwanted.

However, God called to him even in the worst of times. A missionary came and shared a meal and the gospel, and Lawpa discovered Christ and the Bread of Life that he offers. Over years of service to Christ, he started a dorm that brings kids down from the villages of the refugees and boards them while providing them with an opportunity to gain an education and skills that may help them obtain a vocation at some point. In talking with Ryan and Rebecca, it’s apparent to me Lawpa has a heart that is so overflowing for Christ and for his people that no walls or barriers can stop him from loving on these kids and sharing the gospel message with them. Through Ryan and Rebecca’s time with Lawpa it started to become clear to them that they had been called out of the mountains of Colorado and straight into the hills of Thailand. After some years had passed, Lawpa asked Ryan and Rebecca if they would help him provide for these marginalized people, and through prayer they deemed that this is where they were needed.

Ryan had made some great connections over the years and decided that just like when they first decided to move to Thailand, they needed to just take the first steps. He met with Family Connection Foundation and pretty much figured all he could do was ask if this was a project that they would be interested in helping get off the ground. Nonprofits can operate very differently in other cultures, and in parts of the world they are somewhat viewed with skepticism as governments see these places as people looking for ways to exploit their systems. However, Family Connection Foundation is instrumental in this part of the world, as they help bridge the gap between places like the Seed of Hope and the government. When they told him that this would be a great fit, Ryan says he almost ‘fell off his chair.’ They were now becoming a more legitimate organization and the pieces just kept coming together. Every step of the way Ryan and Rebecca could look down and see a line of tracks where God had gone before them. 

The dorm has come a long way since the Stowells and Lawpa were able to partner up and share their skills and resources. This year alone, they are going to start construction on a new education center with a library, art room, computer room and guest quarters for volunteers of the dorm. They have successfully raised enough funds for a second vehicle so that they don’t have to pack the 30 students living in the dorm in the back of one truck to get them to and from school. Finally, they have developed a comprehensive financial planning program where people from all over the globe can sponsor the children and pay for their portion of the operating expenses of the Seed of Hope Dorm. As of last week, all the kids are at least partially sponsored for the coming year. The last big financial need that’s on their ticket is a piece of rice land that would be farmed and used to feed literally tons of rice to the students at the dorm, making this the gift that would keep on giving. In order to supply this rice land they are trying to raise $27,000, which can seem insurmountable at times. However, when they look back at all the needs that have been met they realize that God is so much bigger than any price tag.

Ryan and Rebecca are just normal people from a small town in Colorado. They have two boys, who have both recently graduated high school. They have friends and family, and they deal with all the same joys and tragedies we all do. This past year, Ryan’s father passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer. They have experienced joy and fear, love and despair in the past years just like all of us that share in the human condition. What then makes them so special and allows them to accomplish so much for the glory of God’s kingdom? How can we learn from what they are doing? As I pray for them and talk to them, I am constantly reminded that as God presents opportunities, I need to just start taking the first steps. With that simple action even a couple people from a small town in Colorado can find a place all the way across the globe to share the gospel of Christ. They can teach people who may feel unloved that there is a God who is seeking them passionately and will love on them more than they could ever fully comprehend. 

Though the Seed of Hope Dorm is having some financial success, even recently Ryan and Rebecca are still not even close to fully supported. They currently are about $1,500 per month short of their goal for support. God has been faithful and provided enough over the years to cover the deficit. We know that God’s work is being done in Thailand and at the Seed of Hope, and in faith we know that God will provide the necessary resources. However, if we constantly assume that God will simply meet the need then we can often miss God telling us that he wants us to be his instrument in meeting that need. I hope that you consider partnering with Ryan and Rebecca financially. Even if you don’t have the financial means please consider reaching out to Ryan and Rebecca and supporting them in prayer and in the gift of correspondence. Life can be lonely on the other side of the world and a simple note of encouragement can really help when days are hard.

Ryan can be reached at rythai40@gmail.com and you can also email Rebecca at rmsstowell@gmail.com. If you ever have more questions, please feel free to reach out to them and sign up with Rebecca to get her newsletter every month. She does an amazing job at updating their partners and would love to keep you updated as well. If you would like to donate to Ryan and Rebecca personally or to the Seed of Hope just visit this link and select the proper fund under the designation drop down menu.