Embedded Files
We have completed one short term mission trip and a six month trip mission building in Azua, Dominican Republic. Last year we completed a Discipleship Training School based out of Nelson, New Zealand. We are now serving as staff at YWAM Colorado @ Cimarron.
We have completed one short term mission trip and a six month trip mission building in Azua, Dominican Republic. Last year we completed a Discipleship Training School based out of Nelson, New Zealand. We are now serving as staff at YWAM Colorado @ Cimarron.
2026
2026
July 4th Update- Gold Mountain Fire
50th Anniversary
50th Anniversary
God has been so gracious even through the chaos of a fire. We gained a valuable perspective that it is not about what we have done or what the base has done for the last 50 years, it's what God has done. Through his church body, he supplied temporary housing for all our staff and volunteers. A local Montrose church, Grace Community Church, volunteered their building to host our 50th celebration. Without the distraction of making the base look good, we could refocus on what was really important, sharing how God is Good.
July 11th was the 50th anniversary of this base, so a lot of the work we were doing was preparing to host a celebration to commemorate the Golden anniversary. This involved several projects that contributed to the long term maintenance of the base while also looking fresh in anticipation of the hundreds of visitors the event would bring. Alissa and some of the other staff spent more than a month redoing the floor of the lecture hall and down rooms. The buildings across the base were also re-stained to look their best and increase their water proofing. Michael coordinated the tech side of things and provided IT support whenever it was needed.
We are continuing to do ministry during this time as well. We help the local Sharing Ministries Food Bank in Montrose every week. We also will be starting our Summer of Service Training school for teens this on 7/26. We found a retreat center that was free for us to hold our school there.
The fire does seem to be winding down now. A storm recently came through and dropped an inch of rain on the fire. This was enough to put out most of the fire and stop its progression. As long as the wind doesn't start the fire back up again, we should be able to return to our base in a matter of weeks instead of months like they were telling us. God continues to bless us in many ways even during this time of uncertainty. Thank you all for your continued support and prayers.
July 4th Update- Gold Mountain Fire
Fire Evacuation
Fire Evacuation
On June 30th when we sent our update, our leaders decided it would be best to evacuate the base. By the goodness of God, within two hours they had found housing among our friends in Montrose for all of our staff and the guests who were on base at the time.
As of now, all of our staff is living in Montrose or Olathe. So far our property has been safe. Hundreds of firefighters came in from out of state to contain the fire and keep it away from structures. Although we anticipated we would be upgraded to Mandatory Evacuation within 24 hours, it was not called until July 6th. We were blessed to be able to return to base to empty fridges and gather things left behind when we thought we only had a day to evacuate.
Because of the timing of the fire, there was initially a lot of concern that we would have to cancel the celebration of the base’s 50th anniversary. Yet God made a way even in the midst of chaos. One of the local churches offered their building for our use on Saturday. Even though returning visitors won't be able to see the base as it is today, we can still gather together and celebrate 50 years of God's grace and goodness.
We would greatly appreciate your continued prayers for YWAM Cimarron. We are praying for the safety of the people and buildings on the mountains and for peace of mind to everyone who has had to leave their homes. We also are praying for wisdom on what to do about the remaining schools we had planned for the summer.
God has been so faithful, no matter what has come our way. To him be the glory, the honor, and the praise.
June 30th Update- Base Staff
Sorry for the long delay. It has been very busy here in Cimarron. We have been fixing, replacing, upgrading, and modifying the base.
At the end of May we had a work team come out from Georgia and Alabama. They provided a much needed assist with getting things ready for our 50th anniversary. One of the major projects they took on was restaining all 10 buildings, which had not been done in a very long time. They also helped with vehicle maintenance and replacing metal sidings on various parts of the buildings. For the week the whole team was here, we all shared morning prayer together. Some of the visiting couples hosted community worship nights.
One of the other major projects had been replacing the flooring at Duda Hall. Starting in April, we replaced all of the carpet with new carpet squares for the lecture room and vinyl flooring for the bedrooms. We finally finished putting the flooring down last Monday. Alissa spent nearly everyday working on this until it was completed.
In June, our kitchen lead left for Mexico to receive surgery on her nose. A couple from the Georgia team stayed here through June to help in the kitchen and with the various upgrades we are still making to the base. Between the two of them, they built ramps for the disabled, helped reinstall sinks and cabinets in Duda Hall, planned menus, and cooked for our entire base.
June is also when we had our TESOL Certification class (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). We had four students and two teachers for the class. During this time, the work didn't stop, but once a week we joined the students for intercession. Many of our staff took a turn leading devotions for the school.
In June we were also called on to represent YWAM at a 2-day concert called NightVision. We were able to provide a safe place for people to rest and receive prayer while telling people about YWAM's ministry. For the kids wandering around, we offered Bible trivia in exchange for candy, which was a huge hit. We also got to see live performances by Jeremy Camp, Anne Wilson, Katy Nichole, and other Christian artists.
Michael was able to start participating in the local food bank as a representative of the YWAM base. Sharing Ministries provides food to any person or family in need that comes in looking for help. This food bank processes hundreds of pounds of food each day to give fruits, vegetables, milk, and other necessities for those that come in. They give our base a significant amount of food, as well as other non profits in the area.
As June comes to an end, we are ramping up to be ready for our 50th anniversary on July 11th. There's still plenty to do and get ready. So we will continue the work to have a great time for former students and staff that will be coming to reminisce and trade stories. It will be a good time to have all the different generations that have come through this place all meet together and see the amazing things God has done here.
We would like you to pray with us for one more amazing act of God at our base before the 50th celebration. As of this evening, the Gold Mine Fire is threatening our base and we are currently under Voluntary Evacuation. We are praying for favorable winds keeping the fire away, safety for the people and property on our mountain, and of course, lots of rain. One of our staff was given the word "Supernatural Summer". We believe we will be seeing evidence of this in God's hand upon us through this challenging time.
Thank you all for your support and your prayers. We love all of you and couldn't be doing all of this without you. Please continue to pray for us and walk with us as we support this base so that people can see who Jesus is here on the mountain. And if there is anything we can pray for you please let us know. We want to be there for you if we can. If any of you want to support us or know someone who would like to help, just visit our site at https://www.wakeupdrybones.org/support-our-mission.
April 29th Update- Base Staff
Officially Staff
Officially Staff
We have now been serving at the YWAM Colorado @ Cimarron base for almost three months. It has been really good helping out at this base. We missed living in community after our training school in New Zealand and this was just what we needed.
There are several projects we participated in at the base so far. We have helped rebuild the kitchen in one of the houses for staff, started work in the garden to get ready for Spring and Summer, and began replacing the carpet in Duda Hall where they hold classes and times of worship. We have also made updates to their website, recreated their applications for schools, updated computers, cooked in the kitchen, and much more. There is a lot that is going on here, especially for getting things ready for the summer.
The base will be running their TESOL class in June. There will be 6 students and a teacher coming for this. Michael will be stepping up to help cook during this time since our main cook will be out of town the entire month for surgery. We will also be hosting our 50th anniversary on July 11th. Many preparations are still needed to make this a success. Almost 200 people have RSVP’d so far and we’re sure more will be coming. There will also be effectively two Summer of Service Training Schools happening right after the anniversary in July. Both of these will happen over two weeks each. This does not include other various groups that are coming to join in on ministries or to have other shorter events in between.
We both have been praying about our next steps in following God. We believe that we are to stay through the Summer here and join the staff at this base! So we will be here in Colorado for a bit longer. We feel that God wants us to help see the base through these events this summer before moving on to what He has in store for us.
For this we are going to ask for some help. To join as staff, we will have to pay $400 a month in staff fees to help pay for room and utilities and such while staying here. We appreciate everyone who has supported us and those that are continuing to support us as missionaries. The support you have given us helps more than you know. What we are asking for is monthly support to help us pay for this and food and other necessities that come up while living out here. For monthly support, we are currently receiving $670 per month. The staff fees take up the majority of this and do not include the food, gas, medical bills, and other costs that come up. Even just $10 per month can help us out a lot in the long run. We thank those who are already supporting us monthly, and we thank all of you who have sent us donations when we needed it for our Discipleship Training School. As we take this next step we hope to receive more help so that we can do even more for God’s kingdom. One time donations do help, but ongoing monthly support is what we really need right now. We humbly ask for you to pray and see if you can commit to helping us monthly. And if you know anyone who would like to help as well please give them our information. We would be happy to talk with them and share our website and what we are doing for God.
As always, you can go to our website at https://www.wakeupdrybones.org/support-our-mission for ways that you can donate. Also, you can send us donations through the base here. Their website is: https://www.ywamcolorado.org/ and you just click the Donate button at the top right of the page. If you do, be sure to select the “Designate to: Staff” option under Fund and put our names in. If this helps, The YWAM base here IS A Non- Profit and you will receive a receipt for donations for you to keep for taxes.
Thank you all again for your support and especially your prayers. Prayer is still the most powerful thing we can do and it is so appreciated how much prayer we receive from you all. We love you and keep you in our minds and prayers as well. May the Lord bless you and keep you, may His face shine upon you and grant you His peace.
March 19th Update- Missionbuilding
Alissa helped with the electrical and cabinets.
Gerald the snowman. (RIP)
Gate sign Alissa helped re-stain.
We have been working hard here at YWAM Colorado @ Cimarron! Even though we have not had as much snow as we would like, the mountains are still beautiful and the area seems to be filled with God’s peace. Even with that, there is still plenty to do here at the base.
One of the biggest projects is our 50th anniversary celebration this July. We’ve been sorting through addresses, printing invitation post cards, and labeling them to be sent out. We began sending out these invitations starting with those closest to the base and then Colorado. There have already been 2,000 invitations sent out to people the base have met. We have almost 100 people that have RSVP’d for the event. The director would like to have at least 400 people coming. If we don’t have at least half that after the 22nd, he wants to send out another 2000 to people they know farther away. We are also inviting the communities near the base. These would include Gunnison, Montrose, and all the way to Grand Junction. The idea is to reconnect with nearby communities and help them to feel welcome here again. We are excited to see all the people that will be coming!
There’s also plenty of maintenance projects we have been helping out with. (Maintenance is always needed at YWAM bases it seems). One of the big projects in this is fixing up one of the buildings used for housing. Alissa has spent a lot of time recently working on plumbing, electrical, gas lines, removing flooring, and installing cabinets. She is becoming quite the handywoman. She has also learned how to use the Skid Steer to move loads of wood and break up ice. Alissa has been helping with cleaning and upkeep of the vehicles and machinery as well.
The IT work is now mostly taken over by Michael. He worked on organizing and sorting old addresses to be able to send out invitations for the 50th anniversary. He has also recreated the system for applications for the schools that the base runs. This has been simplified and made easier for people who are applying and for their references to supply additional information. Michael is currently focusing on a new project to set up project management systems for the base. The idea is to install some standard operating procedures and improve workflows so that the director does not have to be hands on with every function at the base.
YWAM Cimarron runs off of hydropower, which is already being hit hard by the warm winter and the lack of snow fall. We've had to switch to commercial every few weeks because there isn't enough water coming down the mountain to power the generator. Without more snow, this problem will only increase as we move into summer. Please pray for a snowy spring in the mountains so the base can stay off the grid throughout the upcoming year.
We will be staying here until at least April. When we prayed for what our next steps should be, God told us to wait here and help until then. Please keep us in your prayers as we wait on the Lord to see what we will be doing next.
February 1st Update- Missionbuilding
YWAM Cimarron
YWAM Cimarron
We are now officially at the YWAM Cimarron base here in Colorado! There are actually two bases here in the state. One is in Colorado Springs, and the other is here in Cimarron. We are located about an hour west of Gunnison. YWAM Cimarron was actually the first base started in Colorado, and was one of the first in the YWAM organization. In 1975, Loren Cunningham (creator of YWAM) was gifted the property to use for God. Just one year later they started hosting work camps and schools.
We will be here for at least 2-3 months. The base is currently in their slow season. Which means there are no schools currently running and staff numbers are low. There is still plenty to do out here in preparation for the summer. There are three schools that will be starting: an Outdoor Adventure DTS, a TESOL certification class, and their Summer of Service course.
The Outdoor Adventure DTS is similar to the class we completed in New Zealand; except that they will incorporate hiking, camping, and the like into their lecture phase. This allows them to completely remove themselves from distractions and seek God for themselves in the wilderness, spending time with Him in the beauty of His creation in the forest here on the mountainside.
TESOL stands for "Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages". This is a great way to reach out into other nations. This course includes how to introduce the language in practical ways for beginners to grasp, creating lesson plans and worksheets to help learners, and understanding cultural differences in the way we speak versus other languages. It's a comprehensive course for teaching English abroad or even here at home for immigrants who want to learn English.
The Summer of Service course is specifically for teenagers who want to serve and get closer to God on their summer break. This is much like a teaser of what a DTS would be like if they decide to take this further. Any who are 13-17 years of age are able to sign up for this training course to experience God closer than they have before.
Along with all of these programs, the base will be celebrating their 50th anniversary this summer! They will be inviting the entire community around them, from Montrose to Gunnison, to join them here. The main goal is to reconnect with communities and the people that are all around them.
There is plenty to do here at YWAM Cimarron: preparing for classes, planning the anniversary with the community, as well as continued maintenance and necessary upgrades. We are happy to join the team here to work on all of this and are excited for what is to come.
Thank you everyone for your continued support! We will keep you updated on what we are working on and how God will be moving here in the beautiful mountains!
If anyone would like to know more about the base, here is their website:
January 1st Update- Serving At Home
We hope everyone had a merry Christmas and a happy new year!
After arriving back in the States in time for Thanksgiving, we've chosen to stay put through Christmas in order to catch up with family. In the meantime, the holiday season has given us plenty of opportunities to serve.
We've spent 8 hours with Samaritan's Purse processing shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. The organization partners with thousands of families to pack a shoebox with toys and other gifts to send to a child internationally. But this isn't just about spreading holiday cheer, it's also a missionary tool. Every child who receives a shoebox hears the gospel and has an opportunity to give their life to Jesus. As volunteers, we helped check shoeboxes for things that might hold a box up in customs, mostly soap or toothpaste. Then we sealed the boxes, sorting them by age group to be sent off. Two weeks before Christmas, the Colorado location alone had processed more than 400,000 shoeboxes. That's over 400,000 kids and families who get to hear about Jesus, maybe for the first time.
Our church, One Life, gave us the opportunity to do something similar on a local scale. With Selah ministries and other churches, they've been collecting Christmas presents for kids in low income areas of Denver. One weekend we joined the group wrapping all the presents, and then the next day went with them to hand them out. Selah had given out flyers in advance to families in different neighborhoods letting them know the times and places where they would hand out presents. We were able to hand out hundreds of presents to local families in need along East Colfax in Aurora. Many families were able to have wonderful gifts for their children this Christmas because of people donating gifts and giving their time to hand them out.
We were also able to work with a food distribution group called SECOR, at OneLife Church. One Life paid for SECOR to bring in their mobile food pantry in order to set up a temporary food bank before the holidays. Their food truck can open for people to select what they need without having to do much unloading. Many families signed up online for different times to come and receive food for their household. As volunteers, we were able to take part in providing food to over 50 people. With food still left over, we invited other people nearby to come get as much as they wanted. OneLife Church has continued giving the remaining non-perishables to those who need it. So many families were able to receive food this December thanks to SECOR and those who helped us work with them.
2025
2025
November 6th Update- Crossroads DTS
We have graduated from our Discipleship Training School at YWAM! It has been a long road we have taken, and we have learned so many things along the way. Now we are officially YWAMers! We also feel that we understand what it means to live for Christ much more than we ever did. There is still more to do and even more to learn, but we will be taking some time in New Zealand before coming back home. Thank you so much everyone for your support and your prayers. We could not have done this without all of you being there for us.
But we haven't talked about Taiwan yet! Here's what we did there before coming back for graduation.
Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Taiwan is a wonderful place and full of very kind and generous people. But, outreach here was very different from everywhere else we have been so far. Only 3% of their population is Christian. Upon arriving here you could feel it in your spirit that people did not speak the name of Jesus here nearly as much as in other places. We were able to do many different things here to help and to serve. The church we stayed at needed to be upgraded into a mission base. The local churches were looking for encouragement and support. The people had seen celebrations of their Buddhist gods, but not anything for Jesus. We were given many opportunities to spread the Gospel and to lift up the faithful that are already there.
Shousan Church, where we were staying, threw a barbeque so that Christians could come together in celebration. We dance in front of the building, letting the name of Jesus be shouted in the streets. Several of us also spent time praying over the church and the people who live close by. We are jealous that they would come to know Jesus, the true light of the world. There are temples everywhere in Taiwan, including directly across the street from the church.
Our team hosted a conference at a neighboring church. The word we had going in was, "For the One". The first night wasn't well attended, but the second day Michael was able to attract around 30 people by cooking chicken parmesan. Over the two days, two people gave their lives to the Lord.
Sharing about Jesus isn't easy when you only have two weeks and don't speak the main language. So several times we chose to sing and dance instead, while other members of our team handed out tracks in Mandarin. The pastor of Shousan church and her sister were often with us, so they could have conversations about Jesus, and translate for us when needed.
One afternoon we went to the International House of Prayer, which met 39 stories up in the third tallest buildings in Kaohsiung. We spent two hours worshiping God and praying over the city. The group here had been commissioned as dancing priests, and it was wonderful to praise Yahweh alongside them.
October 8th Update- Crossroads DTS
Manila, Philippines
Manila, Philippines
Outreach here was very fruitful. We prayed the salvation prayer with hundreds of people, in schools, prison, orphanages, homes, and on the streets. We came up with an overall program that we shared to some extent in most of the places we visited. This usually included a worship set, testimonies, the dances we'd learned, a skit and a sermonette. We usually had 30-40 minutes to give our presentation. Who shared testimonies and who gave the message switched around, so that we all got an opportunity to speak.
We got to talk to the locals, hear their stories, and pray for them. It was eye opening to see and hear how others live in a country very different from our own. One woman ran a small shop out of her house and took care of her two grandchildren. Her son was working in Taiwan and sending money back for them. Another woman we talked to was back from Saudi Arabia on leave until January. She goes there to work several years at a time in order to put her two boys through school. Our hearts were especially moved by the situation of one of the widows we talked to. She has five children, three in school sponsored by YWAM. They live in a shanty the size of an American family's bathroom. Both the ceiling and the floor have gaping holes. Her income was collecting bottles to recycle, providing 300 pesos (about US $5) every three weeks. It's heartbreaking to see the conditions she lived in, yet she still wore a beautiful smile. In a beautiful act of God, a church was moved to give money to us, enough to buy new tin to replace the families’ roof.
We also visited the prison in Antipolo. The prison condition was nothing like we see in the USA. Most of the prison consisted of one large open room that the inmates slept, ate, and lived in. The building was swelteringly hot. They brought out fans for our benefit while we were there, but did not have any for the inmates. Between the heat and barely having space for your own mat on the ground, it definitely does not seem like crime would be worth it here. Surprisingly enough though, they were extremely receptive to our program. They danced with us, sang with us, and listened to our testimonies. At the end, we were able to lead most of the prison to ask Jesus into their hearts and to be forgiven. Even the guards accepted Jesus after we led the inmates! It was amazing to see this here. We were truly blessed to be a part of this ministry.
September 26th Update- Crossroads DTS
Sydney, Australia
Sydney, Australia
Our first international destination took us 40 minutes outside downtown Sydney, in Plumpton. We stayed for two weeks, working with Ignite ministries to evangelize and provide food for those in need.
Australia was intense!
The YWAM property we stayed at was rented to a ministry called Ignite Revival. Our time was mostly spent with food outreach, evangelism, and joining some of the Bible School classes taught at Ignite. Their evangelism style was developed for the fast paced, uninterruptible commuter. They would jump right in with the question, “Do you know that Jesus loves you and has a plan and purpose for your life?” This would be followed up with an offer of prayer. If the person was receptive, they'd say a quick salvation prayer with people, trusting Holy Spirit to activate the seed that was being planted.
We found this more effective during food outreach. We'd offer a bag of free groceries before offering to pray. Our first Tuesday, almost everyone who accepted the bag of groceries was willing to pray with us.
Our second Monday in Australia, we went from the suburbs to Sydney proper. After an hour prayer walk, we set up worship by a busy walkway. Two of our team traded off guitar, while the rest of us alternated singing, dancing, and telling pedestrians about Jesus. The first hour or so the ground seemed fairly hard, but when we started singing Amazing Grace we could feel something break in the atmosphere. Suddenly people were stopping to take pictures or record videos. A few lifted their hands in worship themselves. It provided a great avenue for evangelism because you could tell by who was willing to pause and listen who was open to have a conversation about Jesus.
We learned a lot so far from the work we have done. And it has been amazing to go out and serve God in such a way. In learning humility and boldness, we will carry these lessons to the Philippines and continue explaining the kingdom of God. We thank Jesus everyday for being able to labor in His name and glorify Him. And we thank you all for supporting us along the way.
August 23rd Update - Crossroads DTS
Outreach Start!
Outreach Start!
We are now starting our outreach service! It feels good to be going out for ministry after weeks of learning and becoming closer to God. Over the next 8 weeks we will be traveling to four different locations in three countries in order to show people the love Jesus has for them.
We have learned a lot during DTS. These lectures have been informative, inspiring, and life changing for us and our walk with Jesus. Here are some of the topics we have covered: Fatherheart, Renewing the Mind, Relationships, Lordship, Holy Spirit, Spiritual Warfare, and Missions. So much has happened during this time of learning and opening our hearts to the Lord.
Alissa was able to open up much more than before. Especially after a class we had on Prophetic Dancing one night. She rediscovered her love for the movement in Flag Dancing and a gift for displaying the Lord's love through dance. Alissa and one of our classmates now have a flag dance choreographed so that they can display it during outreach.
Michael discovered a gift and passion for Deliverance during Spiritual Warfare week. We were able to see people in our class set free from spiritual oppression and generational curses. After seeing the healing people experienced, Michael was empowered to continue in this ministry. We were also excited because Michael’s gift of tongues was activated for the first time while taking someone through deliverance!
In preparation for serving on outreach, we had a Sunday Takeover of the nearest church. Our team ran worship, presented announcements, gave testimonies, performed dramas and dances, preached the message, served communion, and made up the prayer team. Michael volunteered to deliver the message. His sermon was about the seed-like nature of our faith. Matthew 17:20 reads: “Jesus says “...Truly I tell you, if you have faith like a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”” Having the faith that a mustard seed has means that we are willing to plant it and see it grow. The mustard seed will never become a tree if it stays in our hands. Like the parable of the talents, where increase only came when it was invested, our faith will never grow if we’re so afraid to lose it that we never take a risk.
Before going international, we served for one week at YWAM Zion in Whangarei, New Zealand. In our time on base, we prayed for and ate with the homeless, prayed and worshiped in the local hospital, prayer walked through gang territory, and went out through public streets looking to share the love of Jesus. What has been very important to us is that everywhere we go, whether we have a long conversation about God or 10 seconds passing on the street, we are a representation of Jesus.
Easy breakdown of sharing the gospel
Alissa dancing during evangelism
Suspension Bridge over Pelorus River
Michael preaching at Atawhai Church
June 23rd Update - Crossroads DTS
Officially Going On Outreach!
Officially Going On Outreach!
Thank you all so much for your support. We have received enough to pay for our flights in time to go on outreach! We can barely contain our excitement for going around the world to share the gospel and put what we are learning here into practice. The lectures here are going great, and our weekly evangelism has been preparing us for sharing wherever we go!
June 16th Update - Crossroads DTS
June 16th Update - Crossroads DTS
A story from evangelism:
Our first week here, we were taught a method of prophetic evangelism completely reliant on guidance from Holy Spirit. We were to ask Holy Spirit to give us a list of clues. They could be anything-location, landmarks, clothes, colors-whatever Holy Spirit brought to mind. Then we were to ask for a particular message or prayer need. List in hand, we were sent to find and pray for the person who matched the description Holy Spirit gave us. We were trusting that we had been given a divine appointment, not just random words.
I (Alissa) had felt discouraged during our street evangelism the first week, and was anxious and distracted as we went out for the second time. I wrote down pine tree, white and blue, sky, and a personal message, but it felt like I was making things up. In spite of my misgivings, my partner and I followed our clues to a community garden with the only pine tree that aligned with my American concept. There we met a woman dressed primarily in white and blue. We'd been using an offer of free art to start a conversation, and this woman picked one depicting the sky. She was a Christian who needed a little bit of hope. Our story of how we were led to her and the message God had me write down brought her so much joy.
We tend to think of evangelism as sharing the gospel with unbelievers, but I was reminded how at its core, evangelism is about bringing hope to those who are without.
Thank you for your prayers and for your giving. Have a great week!
June 8th Update - Crossroads DTS
June 8th Update - Crossroads DTS
We have arrived at YWAM Nelson, NZ! It's been a really fun but long first week here. From introductions to first lecture classes and then street evangelism already! It looks like most of our time will be split between 3 things: prayer & worship, lecture classes, and ministry. They make sure we consider all of these to be important and are actually a requirement to passing the DTS course. This will also count as college credits for the University of Nations that YWAM also runs, which is really good if we want to lean more into training and learning about the bible.
We have 9 people total in our class. Mostly New Zealanders (Kiwis), one person from Australia, and another person from the US in Ohio! They are all really great people and I'm excited to get to work with them on this DTS. Since this is a Crossroads DTS, the class is older people instead of youth. Although it means we are the youngest people in the class, it's great that there are people in their 50's and 60's still willing to make a new commitment to serving God!
Picture of us taken at the geographic center of New Zealand. We are on the hilltop overlooking the town of Nelson.
We have also already found out where we are going on our Outreach! We had a reveal event and found out the 3 places we will be going to!
First will be 2 weeks in Sydney, Australia where we will be ministering to refugees. These people are coming from China, the Philippines, and other places around the world. They are going there to escape war, persecution, and other various issues from their home countries. This creates an opportunity for us to help people from several different countries all in one place.
Then we are going to travel to the Philippines for 3 weeks and support some of the mission bases there. After that we will go to the Taiwan for 2 weeks before returning to Nelson NZ. We are really looking forward to going out and helping people around the world!
Thank you so much to everyone who has supported us so we could get this far! And if you would like to help support us through our outreach, you can go to our Support Our Mission page to see how you can help and take part in our mission!
April Update - Next Mission
April Update - Next Mission
We are now back in the US, grateful for all of our friends and family that have been supporting us. From here, we start looking forward to where we will go next.
After much prayer and seeking guidance, we have decided to take a Discipleship class with YWAM (Youth With A Mission) called Crossroads DTS. While YWAM typically focuses on working with youth, this class is specifically for older people/couples who are getting into missions. We are glad to have jumped into missions when God called us. We also realized that we want to work with others in being closer to God while we are out ministering to others.
If you would like to support us, or have questions about expenses and the YWAM location, please visit our Support Our Mission page for more information.
Azua, Dominican Republic - March Update
Azua, Dominican Republic - March Update
Over the last few months we have been striving to increase the self sufficiency of the mission base. Projects with this goal in mind include building a chicken coop, establishing a vegetable garden, and setting up solar panels.
Throughout most of January we were building the chicken coop. Although it took several more weeks after finishing to actually get chicks, we are now raising 12 pullets.
Our pet project has been the garden. This has been a far more involved project than we expected when we set out. Clearing the an area to plant involved digging out far more tree stumps than we anticipated. The dirt here is largely fine gravel, and we've had to start a compost bin to get more fertile soil. So far we've started tomato, bell pepper, arugula, and basil in egg cartons. Once these seedlings are larger, we'll move them into planter boxes.
The solar panels were our primary need. The power grid in Azua is very unstable, with frequent outages and fluctuations. At some points we don't have enough power to run the fridge and freezer. Other times, surges of power will break any electronics plugged directly into an outlet. Having the stability of our own power source will allow us to support larger teams coming in, and allow us to devote the money that has been going to electricity to further ministry. This has been achieved with the support of a church from Wisconsin, U.S. who raised the money to pay the steep initial costs. They do regular outreach missions twice a year here, so when they came this winter they sent people who could help install the panels for us. After three weeks of work, we are finally off the grid.
Two woman from Germany also came to the base here as volunteers for a few weeks. They have been going to two different schools in the area teaching English.
Patricia and Sophie from Germany
Patricia and Sophie from Germany
Patricia and Sophie teaching English in the Haitian community & giving gifts
VID-20250302-WA0002.mp4Patricia teaching in the local school
The Chicken Coop
The Chicken Coop
This was an undertaking. We cleared out a lot of brush and rock to make space for our new chicken house!
How it looked when we started
Trying to tear the stumps out
Caught Rodney looking!
Making progress!
VID-20250302-WA0001.mp4VID-20250302-WA0006.mp42024
2024
Azua, Dominican Republic
Azua, Dominican Republic
This is the second time we have come out to the DR thanks to Rodney at the YWAM (Youth With A Mission) base in Azua. Michael came out first at the end of July. He went back to the United States to be married in October, but now both of us are back in the Dominican Republic.
September Update
September Update
Things have been going pretty well here. It took a while to get acclimated to island life, so I'm sorry I haven't uploaded anything. But I did want to give people an update on what has been going on out here. It's been slow going here, but we are making progress. We've been fixing up the base we have here so that we will be better suited to hosting large groups of missionaries. We are cleaning up a lot and making repairs on different buildings, painting bed frames, clearing out debris, and ordering bibles for outreach opportunities.
We have been able to do some work with the community as well. We host a children's swim class every Saturday, which has been fun. About 15 families come out here every time and hang out with us as their kids swim in the pool. Other events and church groups come out also. One had a seminar on their group and how to reach others in their community. And we enjoy building our relationships with the local pastors, which helps us have more opportunities to do outreach.
Speaking of outreach, we were able to have some of our staff go out with one of the churches to bring Spanish Bibles to a community that was very much lacking any chance of getting them. This community is poor and desperate for the word. We were pretty moved by the people there and how happy they were to receive Bibles from us.
Swim classes every Saturday!
Conferences and events are hosted here almost every week
Getting ready to help
Some places still don't have access to the Bible
Reaching out to those in need
A lot of people were happy to receive the Word
Doing work around the base
Trying to do work 😄
Michael, Isaac, Rodney, Randol
(YWAM staff)
2022
2022
Azua, Dominican Republic
We were fortunate to be able to join a mission team sent by our church, One Life, to a YWAM (Youth With A Mission) base in Azua. In the eight days we were there, we helped clean up the mission base, organize a wedding for five couples, assist in long term building projects, and join the ministries of the local team. On a more personal level, Alissa told the stories of David and Esther to kids at a park during one of the base's outreaches. Michael shared his testimony at a Wednesday night church service.
(Above, below) The view from the mission house.
(Above, below, right) Seeing the sights. Before flying out, our team took some time in the city to explore and have some fun.
(Above) Our team lead, the famous Bob, preaches in a service at the park.
(Above) Another team member also sharing her testimony at church.
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