New Life of Spring
30 Second Version (for Quick Update types)
Lots of travel in the last few months
Alaska for week with Care in mid February for me to speak at a youth retreat outside of Anchorage.
Tijuana with Brennan at the end of February for us to attend the YWAM San Diego Baja Staff Conference.
Ensenada mid March for me to speak at Mission Adventures for a week.
Family is doing well, we’re excited about summer weather!
Financial support raising
Hit first major goal at end of 2023.
Working towards hitting phase two goal - real salary enabling sustainability for the long-term!
Super fun friendship story at the end … you’ll have to scroll to hear it!
Proper Update (a bit long … sorry)
I’m writing this from what I call my “summer office” — aka, our back patio! All the rain we’ve had recently has made it abundantly clear that our back yard could use some work! But we have this nice stone patio that gets the perfect amount of afternoon sun and breeze! It feels like it’s been forever since I’ve been able to enjoy it, but we busted out all the patio furniture recently and I intend to make the most of it!
All that to say, I loving the sounds of the birds and the signs of new life all around (except maybe the weeds that are also excited about the new warm weather)!
This past season has felt full. I had a handful of speaking and travel opportunities, for which I’m very grateful and excited about. But this year they all sort of stacked up back to back to back!
On February 15 Care and I flew to Anchorage, Alaska! WOO. I was invited to speak at a youth retreat for a group whom I had met in Ensenda the summer before. We were at the retreat Friday thru Sunday and then had a few extra days to try to enjoy some of the beauty of Alaska! Despite the weather not being great most of the week (too WARM and rainy if you can believe it), it was a great time away. We even had the opportunity to go Dog Sledding.
For as much fun that experience was, it also somewhat shed some light on some of what I was feeling and experiencing at a rest and soul level. Don’t get me wrong, I was very excited to go and step into the opportunity Jesus had provided, but I was feeling like a shadow of myself as we got closer and closer to the trip. I was quite prepared for the talks, but for whatever reason, I was feeling anxious about it and really struggled to find peace. The retreat went super well and I really believed Jesus used what He had put on my heart to share with the students in a really big way! And Care and I had some great adventures and time together. But, like I said, there was this weightiness to it. I’m still working through to process if there were any specific things that were contributing to that ‘lul’ and hoping to keep those seasons at bay.
We got home late on Thursday evening February 22nd. Red-eye flights, time-zone changes and a bit of head-cold left me feeling pretty beat up for the weekend. And then Wednesday the 28th, Brennan and I left the house in the middle of the night to fly to San Diego so we could be at the YWAM San Diego Baja Staff Growth Conference in Tijuana.
This was such an incredible time away. I came into things still carrying some of the heaviness of the weeks before and was able to work through some things and pray with some of my friends and staff partners in Tijuana. The sessions and the times of worship were so refreshing and brought new life and joy to my soul. It was also super fun to get to spend that time with Brennan and see him passionately engaging in worship and the YWAM sessions! It was a quick trip, but a great one! By Monday morning (March 6) we were already heady home!
I then had the chance to be home for less than two weeks to enjoy March Break with the boys before return to Baja California! This time I went on my own to Ensenada where I had the chance to once again be the guest speaker for Mission Adventures (the week-long youth missions trip program YWAM runs which I often get to be quite involved in). It was so amazing to see and experience a complete turn around in my energy and passion. Where heading into Alaska I felt some sort of weightiness, MA in Ensenada felt life-giving in every way. There were about 100 students from 3 different groups (2 Christian schools and one church youth group). We built some homes and experienced Jesus’ speaking new LIFE and bringing great healing in the lives of the students. I kept finding myself saying, “WOW, What a ridiculous thing I get to be a part of!”
So good!
As you can see.. it’s been a pretty full season. Super good, full of lots of incredible opportunities and full!
I’ve been home from all of that for a few weeks now. With the prep and then the busyness of the last season, there are a handful of expressions of the role I have which sort of got put on the shelf for a few weeks. I find myself now seeking to settle into some of the rhythms of what this role has for me when I’m not on the road. There are a couple of churches I’ve been journeying closely with in a coaching and consulting capacity. This has been a lot of fun. I love being able to be a part of helping churches and youth leaders step into fuller expressions of what they’re called to do as it relates to seeing young people discover and grow in their journey with Jesus!
Family Updates
Corbyn is excited to be finishing up Grade 11. Over the last year he has spent considerable time and effort getting fully certified with National Lifeguard Certification and other courses needed to be a lifeguard. He’s applied at a few pools and is hopeful for a good summer job. He’s had his learners permit since December and enjoys getting out to practice driving. This month, he and some friends from youth have the opportunity to be the worship team at each of our churches three locations. He’s really enjoyed stretching himself as a musician and worship leader.
Brennan is only weeks away from finishing Grade 8, meaning High School is next year! It’s pretty wild! He’s quite involved in some of the extracurricular activities at school and serves nearly every week at our churches community meal for those with food insecurities. The warmer weather has gotten him excited about all sorts of outdoor stuff - including motorcycle rides with me!
Aiden has a couple of friends he spends most afternoons with! He’s really grown a lot in schooling stuff this year, as well as height! He’s looking forward to some camping trips this summer.
Other Updates
2023 was the first year of me being what the CRA calls a “self-employed missionary.” So Care and I recently had the extremely fun task of sorting out all of the tax implications that come with that sort of designation. It wasn’t too bad and was actually a really encouraging process to look back over the last year of support raising. All the work I get to do in this role with YWAM is super awesome and I’m very encouraged and hopeful as I look ahead to the ways this role will continue to stretch me and enable me to serve in fruitful ways in the Kingdom. I’m deeply encouraged by the ways so many people in my “village” have given financially to support this journey Jesus has me on. As a reminder, I do not receive any actual “salary” from YWAM but am instead supported by friends, family and honorariums from speaking/coaching jobs. All funds go through YWAM and are considered a charitable donation. As 2023 came to an end, I officially hit my first major support raising goal!! WOO. As we continue to roll through 2024, I seeking to push on towards my second major goal!
One more fun story…
If you’re still reading… I’ve got one more fun story to tell from this past month.
While I was in Tijuana at the beginning of March for Staff Conference I had lunch with a dear “brother” of mine, Pastor Jesus from the church Principe de Paz. I first met Pastor Jesus almost 20 years ago on my first trip to Tijuana with Central Baptist Church. During our visit he mentioned to me that a mutual friend of ours would be in Tijuana a few weeks later — Al Richardson, who was the youth pastor who originally hired me as a youth intern at Central in 2003. Al has also kept up communication with Pastor Jesus and has brought a number of teams to Principe de Paz from the church he serves at.
Well, wouldn’t you know it, Al and his team arrived during the weekend that I was finishing up my Mission Adventures week in Ensenada. And crazy enough, when I booked my flights back in November, it was a lot cheaper for me to fly out on Monday than Saturday, so I had already planned to be around for the weekend but was not committed to any particular activities! So for probably only the 2nd time in 15 years, Al, Pastor Jesus and I were able to hang out in Tijuana! I was able to really serve Al’s team with some translating and finalizing some of the details for the rest of their week! So crazy awesome!
Okay… now if you’re still reading this… thank you! Thanks for taking the time to read it, and thanks for being a part of my life!
JUD
