New Hearts for Gen Z!!!
Hey family & friends!!
We hope that you’re all enjoying the fall season & that you’re resting deeply in the Lord these days! We’re excited to share a few new updates with you all regarding ministry and our personal lives!!
In August, we felt the Lord invite us into different ministry roles at Adventures in Missions, which were confirmed by open doors at the organization to step into new things together! The last week in August, an opportunity arose for us and a couple in their 50’s to become the heads of the leadership team of a group of 37 young adults who are being sent on a 9 month trip to Swaziland, Malaysia, and Central America! They spent 3 weeks in September training, 1 week doing disaster relief ministry in Black Mountain, North Carolina, and 1 week doing some final prep before taking a flight to Swaziland on October 4th. They are full of zeal and passion for the Gospel, and they already feel like family to us.
During those 6 weeks of training & stateside ministry, we saw the Lord truly awaken this group of people to His love in a new way. The majority of them are between the ages of 18 and 20, and rather than describe some of their testimonies from training camp to you, here are some direct stories from them:
“For about 6 years I’ve been struggling with terrible cramps and a condition called endometriosis, and on my third day here, someone prayed for healing in my body and since then I have not needed to take any medication and have not been in any pain!!!”
“Coming into camp, my heart was broken and people had pieces of it. By the end, the Lord healed and returned my heart to me, fully complete and satisfied in Him and Him alone.”
“I was really nervous to evangelize and had never done it before. Now I feel super confident and am eager to do it way more often.”
“I came into training camp with a hard heart. I knew in my head that God loved me, but I had no understanding of His love in my day to day life [but] God is a heart surgeon. He ripped out that cold heart and replaced it . . . love is powerful. My time at training camp has completely filled my cup and I am now overflowing. I am ready to pour that same love into everyone I meet, all because of the way God moved in this space.”
Praise Jesus!!!!! Thank you for praying for this group of people with us - this is just a small glimpse into all He has done in just a few weeks!!!
The team headed to Swaziland on October 4th, and we took a much needed short trip to celebrate our anniversary and to rest after many weeks of long days running training camp! Although God has graced us with an international reach, He has also been guiding us to focus locally, particularly in our home church - this has been incredibly refreshing for us! We are both in separate men’s & women’s groups, and we’ve had the opportunity to connect, serve, and put our roots down more deeply in the local body of Christ this month! As the Lord leads us into more ministry where we are pouring out and ministering to more people, we’re sensing Him leading us to walk alongside equally yoked believers and to position ourselves to be encouraged and refreshed through fellowship! Because of this, in a season where we could feel more overwhelmed than ever, we’ve instead found ourselves feeling steady and at peace - thanks God! In addition, the Lord has made opportunities for Baylee to share the Gospel and provide some physical blessings to a few people while she’s been out and about in the last couple of weeks! A consistent prayer of ours recently has been, “Lord, keep us awake to what really matters to you”, and we’ve found Him answering!
As we enter November, we’re gearing up for lots of transition! A couple at our church made their basement apartment available for us to rent, so we plan to move in with them on November 1st! A week later, we fly to Swaziland to spend a couple of weeks with our team! They’re currently doing Carepoint ministry, meaning that they’re caring for children at an after school feeding program where they learn about Jesus, get fed sometimes their only meal of the day, and have the opportunity to just be loved by parental figures, as 45-71% of all children are considered orphans in Swaziland. We will be joining them in this ministry for a week, then, we will travel to South Africa to debrief their first 6 weeks on the field before they head to Malaysia on Thanksgiving!
As we prepare for the month ahead, please keep us in prayer in these specific ways:
Pray that we’d abide in Jesus during all of the travel and transition! We need to be refreshed in His Presence daily!
Pray that He would give us wisdom in what it looks like to prioritize family across the US and Africa, our church in Gainesville, and ministry internationally!
Pray that our personal transition to a new home would be fruitful and peaceful, and that our team’s transition into Malaysia would be full of God’s grace! Pray that our team would be refreshed by Him and His vision as they go!
Ethan and Baylee
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