October Update!

 Hello dear friends & family!

We are overjoyed to be writing to you from our new home in Gainesville, Georgia! We have many updates for you in this newsletter, including an overview of one of the most beautiful days of our lives - our wedding day!!! We also have some ministry updates related to back to back hurricanes Helene and Milton that bookended our wedding week as well as opportunities we had to share the gospel recently! We pray that you are uplifted and encouraged by this update!

WE’RE MARRIED!!!

On October 5th, 2024, God gifted us with the most wonderful day to celebrate the beginning of our marriage! We were graced to spend the week before with our families preparing for a backyard ceremony and reception, sharing many meals and cups of coffee, and making our house a home! Much of our family had never been able to experience our life in Gainesville with us before our wedding week, so it felt particularly special to have them all with us! As for our wedding day, we both agree that it could not have been more perfect! We had prayed that people would encounter the healing presence of God and that our union would be holy and would bring life to those around us, and we saw all of these things and more come to fruition! We truly loved everything about our wedding day, and we are still praising God for His rich blessings!!! 

Following our wedding, we went back to one of our favorite regions of the world for our honeymoon - Central America! We adventured in Belize for about a week, and while we were preparing to go snorkeling, we met a man named Matt. As we struck up a conversation, he began to recount some difficult life events and describe his fire for following Jesus that had been growing dim in recent months. We had the privilege of encouraging him and sharing testimonies with him before we left! We were blessed with a very restful and adventurous honeymoon!

MINISTRY UPDATES - DISASTER RELIEF & WITNESSING TO COLLEGE STUDENTS!

It seems to be increasingly clear that whether we live internationally or in the United States, all people face suffering and hardship. As our wedding day approached just a few weeks ago, so did hurricanes Helene and Milton. The category 3 and 4 storms left a wake of mass destruction in their path, leaving hundreds of people in danger, including one of our own World Race teams. By the grace of God, the team who was stationed in Black Mountain, North Carolina for domestic ministry was able to escape a massive mudslide that destroyed their belongings. We are so thankful for the ways that God protected our teams, and the desire of Adventures in Missions is to continue to provide aid and relief to the many families who have lost their comforts, homes, belongings, and even dear friends to these storms. Our team is currently working to launch a 2 year relief plan in North Carolina, and World Race teams will be stepping in alongside volunteers from the Body of Christ to usher in hope in the midst of tragedy. We have both had the privilege of serving communities in Kentucky and Florida through the ministry of disaster relief and have seen God restore hope, bring salvation, and strengthen communities - we are confident that He will do it again! If you are interested in hearing live updates from our disaster relief teams or would like to learn how you may pursue getting involved through prayer or aid on the ground, feel free to click HERE! We have already been so encouraged by these updates!

In addition to this new ministry opportunity, Ethan also had the chance to minister to college students at Georgia State University this last week! If you’d like to hear his testimony of sharing the Good News of Christ with a few students on the campus, click HERE. God is on the move!!!

THANK YOU!

As we think about our beautiful wedding week and continue to partner with Adventures in Missions to equip and send missionaries to the nations, we can’t help but reflect on how thankful we are for our friends, families, and communities. Your love, care, prayers, and generosity have built us up and encouraged us to follow Jesus wherever He leads us, and right now, that’s here in Gainesville, Georgia! We believe that God designed us to serve Him together as a community, and we currently have 11 people and couples who are committed to pray for us consistently as well as incredibly generous financial supporters who have all come together to help us reach 55% of our yearly goal through THIS giving link!!! PRAISE GOD!!! We truly can’t express our gratitude enough! If you’re interested in joining our prayer or financial partnership teams, feel free to email or text us, we’d be happy to share more about what that can look like! 

PRAYER REQUESTS:

• That we would gracefully learn what it means to be husband and wife under the loving Lordship of Jesus! 

• Adventures in Missions has 10 teams overseas currently, all in different nations. Be praying that they follow Jesus wholeheartedly and have boldness to invite others to do the same wherever they are! 

• We are becoming passionate about hosting people in our new home, so we’d love prayer for people to be blessed and feel the love of Christ when they’re in our home! 

We love you all! We pray you’re encouraged and spurred on by 1 John 1:7 which says: “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin”. 

Love and blessings, 

Ethan and Baylee Johnston