The End of a Decade

Today is July 8th and we are officially not staff at YWAM Herrnhut.

I (Gillian) once went cliff jumping with friends. An old quarry was turned into a deep lake and one side was still steep from diggers years ago. My friends had been there before and so jumped off with ease, but I sat petrified on the edge of the jagged rocks. Below they yelled up laughing that it was, “so fun! Just jump out here and you won’t hit the rocks!” Very comforting… It took me twenty minutes of convincing and reassurance before I set my jaw and jumped off the cliff. The fall was faster and the water colder and more thrilling then I thought they would be. But once I dove into the icy water all the cheering and coaxing ceased and the heavy silence of the water was all I could hear. A peaceful feeling was there because the water was not surprised or excited that I had dove it. It was there to greet me all along.

Yesterday was our last day on staff. The rest of the 25+ staff members gathered around our little family and prayed us out — blessing us in what God has for us in our next season as we leave their community. Last night I barely slept, the feeling of disconnection very present in my heart. Like jumping off that cliff, the connection with the earth and tree that I clung to is gone and I’m falling. I know that it is not a fall that will hurt me. It is a leap into something new and good. But nevertheless, it is a leap of faith and I trust that God will catch us.

We have been saying since 2020 that we would come back to Germany for two more years, and that has now ended. We came back to care for the staff of our base; sending them out into the nations healthier, more resilience and sustainable than they were before. In the last few months, we have seen that by God’s grace, we have done just that. I hope to be able to share some testimonies with you of the lives changed by our time here, but they are not my stories to tell. You may be hearing different voices in our updates for the next few months because…

In the coming months, we will taking a sabbatical time. Till the end of the year we will be visiting family in Canada, staying Michigan for the fall and then back to Canada come November. We are taking this space of not doing direct ministry to rest, let go off our time and life here in Germany, and to hear what God has to say about what is next. We want to continue in ministry. We would like to stay in YWAM. We are leaving all options open to God to speak clearly and concisely. During Sabbatical we will have a coach and mentors walking us through the process of a successful sabbatical. We want to make the most of this time as we know that it is gift.

The word God gave us for the this year was ‘Preparation’ and, like the bible teaches that sabbath rest is where we draw strength from God for our week of work, we see our sabbatical time as preparation for what God has next and we want to be ready for it. That being said, I know that sabbatical is not a normal thing, so if you have more questions, please reach out to us.

(Top left: We threw a last BBQ for the community - Top Middle: the moving boxes mailed to Canada - Top right: last trip to the zoo with our Friends Jaya - Bottom left: last day of kindergarten for Elaina, Bottom right: last date with our friend Jenn.)

All that being said, we are leaving Europe and many of you will be seeing much more of us very soon. We will be living in our RV (‘little house on wheels’ as we call it) staying the summer in Canada, between Saskatchewan and Vancouver Island. At the end of August we will move our rig down to Michigan and stay there for the fall. And winter we will come back to Canada and stay in our camper on Vancouver Island close to my family. We will then be applying for a a green card for myself in hopes to, in the next couple years, move to Michigan for the foreseeable future.

Our vision stays the same — Walk with the Lost, Disciple Believers, to Serve Practically, and Fight Injustice, and in this next few months we are giving God space to speak what that will look like for the next season.

We would appreciate your prayers in all the transition and look forward to seeing many of your faces and hearing your stories in the next months. Don’t be strangers :)

From the cliff's edge we can not imagine the feeling of being wrapped in the deep waters. we can only trust the voices of those who have already jumped and the reassurance of God that he will be there when we land. Like the shepherd from Ps 23, He leads up to green pastures and quiet waters, and I pray to rest in His loving arms like the deep waters of the lake.