God is so good!We have been so blessed these last few weeks in so many different
ways.It is so easy to see how
much the Lord loves us and how His hand guides us throughout the day.
Just last
Sunday, Singing Waters held a healing service that was open to the community
and there was a huge turnout.God
moved in amazing ways and people were healed physically and spiritually.It was a fantastic experience to be
apart of the team that helped usher in the presence of God and an even more
memorable experience to be used by our Father to heal individuals in His
name.
We really wanted this post to be an expression of how
grateful we are for each and every one of our readers and supporters.We have been floored by the generosity
of everyone who has donated not only financially, but time and prayer on our
behalf.Because of our supporters,
we have been able to use our income from work to reconcile our debts before we
leave for DTS.If you have been
following us, you know that this has been on our hearts for a few months
now.By focusing our income on
these debts, we now can attend our DTS free of obligations elsewhere.The only other loans that we have are
school and a car loan.Thank you
for praying with us and continuing to donate to our DTS. Your prayers have
helped give us vision and discernment regarding the many decisions we have in
front of us. Your generosity is so humbling and so overwhelming. It continues
to be a confirmation of the direction God is taking us.
We have been really learning so much about the way God works and how He fulfills promises, changes hearts and draws us nearer.
We have 68 days until we leave for Dublin and just 53 days
till we leave the island! It’s coming so quickly!
For the time being we have been visiting with family,
celebrating the 4th, working, falling in love with each other every
day, taking pictures, making lifelong friends, and taking the occasional flying
fish tour with our friend Captain Mike.
Tonight we write with gratitude and a heart full of
anticipation in the things God can do. With all the love and virtual hugs one
can give –Team B
Life around here has been what some may call, "business as usual". While that may fit the bill for most of what we are doing lately, it is far from the truth. It would be a disservice to our Maker to just call the last month "usual" because of the blessings He has poured on to us.
We are working like crazy lately, trying to save as much money as we can
for DTS, but also really getting involved as much as possible
downstairs. Justin had the chance to speak on something God has placed
on his heart. God has shown him that we need to look more closely at
how we evangelize. The focus needs to be on the individual receiving
love from a believer. Too many times do we focus directly on
conversion, that we miss an opportunity to really love on people the way
Christ did.
Justin was blessed to be a part of this church by sharing his heart on evangelism. We are excited to further extend our knowledge on this subject as we approach our start date.
God is also preparing our hearts for a special healing service that we are going to be a part at Singing Waters. The leaders have been earnestly seeking after the heart of God and what it means to be bold. He placed it on our hearts to have a healing service here at the church. We could not think of a better way to be bold for Jesus and count on Him to show up at this service. Tons and tons of prayer has already gone into this and will continue to as we near the service. We just want to show the city of Avalon that we serve a God who heals, all you have to do is call on His name. We are asking Lord, thank you in advance for your presence.
So, I think we are down to something like 68 days until we move off the island and 88 days until we hop on a plane and head to the Green Isle. Every couple of days we are finding out more information regarding our DTS. There are currently 12 students attending our DTS in Sligo, with the count being 8 men and 4 women. We know that for the duration of our stay in Sligo, we will be in a hostel called the White House which is situated near central downtown (if one would say that there is a downtown Sligo). The hostel has been rented out to YWAM so we will have full rein over the place. This is super exciting because we will be able to make it our home and be able to live right in the city that we will be serving in. From the White House, we will be attending our lecture at one of the local churches, just a short walk away.
The White House (not a great pic, sorry!)
After lecture phase, we know that there will be a small group performing outreaches in both Lebanon and Morroco. Please pray for clarity for us as God show us exactly which country He wants us to serve in. We aren't quite sure how we will be serving in these countries, but will update as soon as we find out.
Support raising has been going very well, but we still need a large chunk of our DTS covered while we are saving. We have our plane tickets (as we posted last week), which is a huge blessing from God. Besides our plane tickets and the support that we currently have, we are still in need of about $6,000. God has been so gracious with us and promised us the full amount once we reconcile a previous debt. He has asked us to be bold in using money that would otherwise go to our DTS and put it toward this debt. We will have this paid off in about two weeks and couldn't feel more blessed.
Funding is necessary for us to attend our DTS, but we are also looking for support in ways of some supplies. We would love to invest in a nice DSLR camera like a Canon Rebel T3i or similar. Also, Justin is in need of a camping backpack since his bag is just a little too large to take internationally. We have a fair share of necessary clothing, but may need items that we just don't seem to own like rain boots, light rain jackets, and other light, waterproof clothing. If you would love to help us out with these items, we would be forever blessed by your support.
In the meantime, we are choosing to dig deeper into God's word and not fall complacent as we look forward to DTS. It is not easy by any means because our hearts are already there in Ireland (as well as Oakhurst!). The Lord has blessed us with a calmness that seems confusing at times, but is greatly appreciated. We are planning a support dinner here on the island for mid July and may even have one in September in Oakhurst before we leave. If you want to help out in any way, let us know!
Action photo on the Rib Runner looking for dolphins!
Lastly, we would love to thank each and every one of you. By reading this blog, you are supporting our desires and dreams every day. We can never thank you enough for all of your support.
If you would like to know more about our fundraising campaign, please visit https://www.youcaring.com/justinandkorina. You can donate online via WePay or PayPal (for online donations, we recommend PayPal). If you want to be old school, you can mail your checks to the church (check our website above!).
Once again, thank you for all that you do. We love you all dearly!
"I love you soooo much I'm going to provide enough funds for you to not only pay off your personal debts before you leave for your DTS, I'm also going to place someone in your life who will pay for your flights....but I'm not done yet."
Sligo, Ireland (photo natgeo.com)
THAT my friends is the kind of God we serve! With all assurance and expectation our God is paving the way for us to embark on this exciting new journey. We are experiencing Him in every thread of this amazingly complicated and intricate life.
Your prayers for us are heard and felt and appreciated! Thank you to every one of you who has supported us thus far in one way or another. The gifts we have been given have been overwhelming and so confirming at the same time.
As of now we are on track to leave for Ireland in September. We have found out that our outreach location could be either Morocco or Lebanon, both largely Muslim cultures, both steeped in rich history and lively people, both desperately needing to know about the God that pursues them daily and wants to know them intimately.
Lebanon ruins (photo natgeo.com)
We have been blessed with the plane tickets to get there and we are inching our way to our financial goal. We still need to raise enough funds to cover the rest of our tuition costs but we are remaining faithful in how big our God can be.
Morocco (photo travel.natgeo.com)
Right now we are looking at leaving the island on the 2nd of September and spending a few weeks in Oakhurst before our departure to work out storing our things and tying a few loose ends. Next month, on a date to be determined, we are going to have a fundraiser dinner and silent auction to go towards YWAM.
Otherwise, things are going pretty well here in Avalon. We are working a lot and serving a lot here at Singing Waters. We are seeing God do a lot of breakthrough in this community. In our time in prayer we have seen people healed, watched people find their spiritual gifts, heard God speak in powerful ways, and gained vision for more long term ministry.
Plus it was Angie's birthday and we had a "Your Team" party for her. Which subsequently involved all of her celebrity crushes making up "her team" and her getting her own throne for the night and top hat with all of her "team mates" and then this happened...
We are looking forward to the summer season and having more friends and family visit before we leave the country for a little while. Which reminds me....
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN VISITING WE WILL HAVE THE HOUSE TO OURSELVES JUNE 14TH-26TH!
All you need to do is get here! Free accommodations on Catalina Island?! Get over here!
But really, come visit us while you can because this opportunity comes once in a lifetime- not to mention we can get you on countless tours for free, we can save on food by eating at our house, all you have to worry about is your boat ticket ;) just sayin'
In an effort to not take where we live for granted, Justin and I have been making an effort to walk to the beach every day. If we make a habit of it now maybe later we won't forget to thank the Lord for it every day. We are so overwhelmed to be living here and experiencing such beauty around us.
We celebrated four lovely years together on the 20th. We spent the afternoon reading on the beach, reflecting on all we have done together in our four years married, went to dinner (many thanks to Santa for our gift card!) and laughed a lot.
Christmas was a blessing as three of my five sisters were here and my brother Rick came to visit. It was nice to have a bit of home here during the Holidays. We opened gifts, played games, and ate and then ate again.....and again. And then this happened...
#bowsfordays #beforeandafter
We have been filling our days investing in the lives of those here and being surrounded by people cheering us on in our journey. The last few weeks we have been discovering where we will best be used here. Justin has been tackling the building with Enrique and I have been helping with some administrative work.
On our downtime we have been going on hikes, kayaking, going on semi-submersible tours, dolphin quest tours, playing board games, walking a lot. Really, mostly spending time surrounding ourselves with the people here.
It's hard to believe it's December when everything is turning so green.
We are learning a lot of what goes into living with a family dedicated to service. Sometimes it's hard not to miss living life for myself, doing what I want when I want. We all are learning to take time to ourselves to recharge so we serve better as well. Our time here is going by quickly and our days are filled before we even know what to expect. It is exhausting, and hard work and so so fulfilling all at once.
We miss our friends and family a lot. It was hard not to be with them for Christmas. Hopefully soon we will get to make a trip up to the mountains to get our fill.
For now, we are soaking up all the Lord has blessed us with. We have some exciting opportunities coming up that will fill in our schedules even more. If you guys can, pray for us that we will bless those we work to serve.
Some other prayer requests and praise reports
*God blessed us with work opportunities in the making (more info soon)
*We have been engaging well into the community
*That we would be flexible with God's plan
*For discernment about missions and where we are heading
Well...since there are a lot of you out there who still don't know our story as of late, this one's for you! (awkward wink)
A few months ago Justin and I were feeling a strong desire to change the way we have been approaching our life in the long term. He, in particular, was feeling a change of heart about the direction we were heading and began to pray about what exactly this meant. As the weeks went on he began to have a stronger desire to work outside of the kitchen with something more hands on that would benefit more than just he and I.
Fast forward a few months and many many prayers later to when we sold everything and abandoned our ideals of a career driven path. We are getting ready to move to Catalina Island to work with family friends there who will mentor and train us up to work full time in the mission field. We will work part time and the rest of the time invest in the lives of those in the small town of Avalon on the island. We both have a heart for hospitality and over the years have acquired the skills to serve people in a new way. Long term we are praying about doing a Discipleship Training School through Youth With a Mission and possibly staffing full time with YWAM Yosemite.
As we begin this new adventure we would ask for your prayers and we will do our best to update you all here weekly, if not more often. We are so excited to see where God takes us and how He will use us, but for now we are joyfully saying 'yes' and going. Official date of departure December 7th!
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