Normal Life?

Time for honesty.
People who aren't in missions have an idea of what full time missions looks like. Their thoughts and ideas are often way off and not quite accurate. Are we following God's plan? Yes. Is it glamourous? No.

You see, we have both gained and lost monthly supporters because of what our life in missions is actually like. We are based in a westen nation. It's not third world. It has running water. We have enrolled our kids in activities outside of YWAM. Sometimes we do 'normal' things like go on dates and enjoy dinner out as a family. The hard part about this is that some people think that because we live by faith, we shouldn't enjoy such things. Maybe this isn't your view but we can tell you from experience, it is the view of some. For some, we haven't gone on enough overseas missions trips to continue having their monthly financial support. For some, they want us to have the chance to do 'normal' family events and they enjoy giving us monthly support so we are able to take our kids out for dinner, or a movie or enjoy a day of fun. It's a fine line and we never really know if we are doing it right or wrong.

What we do know is that we are doing exactly what God wants, and thats fine with us. Because our finances come from some of you, from old DTS friends, from our home church and the new church we have started attendinge, from family and from good friends. Hey, we want to be doing it right! We want to be giving you a realisitc idea of what we are up to. When we need prayer, when we are doing well, when we have needs, when we are planning an outreach overseas and we even want to communicate when we have been blessed with finance to have a family outing. We want you guys to be the first to know.

So, all that said, we would like to share with you what we have been up to recently. As we mentioned in our last post, we were planning on going south of Perth to Bussleton for a little family weekend away before Aaron hopped on a plane for the 7th time in 10 months. It was an AMAZING time that we needed very much. We had lots of fun taking the kids to the beach, playing tennis and mini golf and watching movies in our holiday house.

After a lot of fundraising, we have been able to enroll Mikayla in Scouts! She absoluelty loves it. We love that she is making new friends and learning new skills. Because the kids are homeschooled they do miss out on doing some social things so this is exactly what we felt she needed.

Recently I was able to leave the other kids with Aaron and take Mikayla way with her "pack" of about 24 other Scouts. We went on a camping trip in the sticks where she learnt knot tying, how to set a course and use a compass, sang countless camfire songs and so on. All the things I invisioned a scouts camping trip to be! Her and I really enjoyed having some time together.

 We're really enjpying watching Levi come out of his shell as he learns how to play AFL (Aussie Rules Football). It gives him some rough and tumble time with boys his age. He has a great understanding of the game and has a great kick on him! He plays well, listens to the coach and is improving a lot.

We have tried to get kamryn onto a soccer team but we were too late for registration. She has been playing soccer with base kids on wednesday nights where she has the chance to learn new skills, play in a team setting and run those long legs fo hers! She's at the age where she really needs to be engaged in activites so we are trying to offer her lots of things to do. She raised enough money to send herself to Wintercamp in a few weeks which is a week of fun, God, wisdom and teaching for teens. She'll be with about 50 other teens and she's VERY excited. Our prayer is that she goes deeper in her faith and starts to learn for herself what she wants that to look like.

This is the church we have visited a few times. Last year we felt that it was time for us to find a church to attend. Not that we don't get what we need from YWAM but more so that we can make friends in the community and branch out a bit. We have been received very well from the Bedford Community Church. They have a youth group that Kamryn wants to check out.

When we haven't been for a while, they call us and make sure everything is ok. I was so blessed when they called me while Aaron was away to offer their help in any way I needed, whether it was someone to grocery shop or offer babysitting if I needed. It was so kind! It's been great to connect with people there and we look forward to what God has in store for us and how relationships will form.

We hope that our transparemcy and honesty is refreshing to you and doesn't offend. We knew going into this life that we wouldn't have any control over our finances. It's scary and sometimes we forget that God is in control and knows what's happening before it happens. It's been 3 years of learning, growth, adjusting and massive stretching! We have made mistakes, we know, but we have also received so much grace and for that we are so thankful! We never want any of you to feel like we take for garnted the finance you give, or that we don't feel your prayers. We LOVE it when you guys respond to our updates and we highly encourage you to ask questions if you ever feel like we aren't bgeing good stewards of the finance we receive.

As for upcoming events? For the next 3 days, our base is part of a confrence called GoFest. It's featuring guest speakers talking about the importance of missions, GOing into the nations and equipping with tools to do so. The founder of YWAM, Loren Cunningham, is here! This is very exciting and might be our very last opportunity to hear him speak. He is 80 years old and lives in Kona and is still part of that base.

Near the end of July, Aaron is off to Nepal with his team. There they are doing a house build, their first one in that nation. They have two teams who will be helping on this build.

The kids and I are long overdue to go along on an outreach so we will pray into it and see when we are to go along! It's a lot of work taking the whole family and since having Lauren, we haven't felt the ability to go. Now that she is getting older, it's looking like we will start trying to go along with Aaron more often.

PRAYER POINTS

Robin has had to carry a lot of the household responsibilities while Aaron is away. It is often challenging and slightly stressful having the 4 kids without help for usually 3 weeks at a time. Pray for her that God would continue to give her grace to carry the load and be a good Mom to the kids in the midst of it!

Aaron's ministry has grown from 3 to 5! He now has 4 staff members in his mnistry which is an answer to prayer. One of those is a woman which is another answer to prayer. Aaron could use prayer that he is a good leader, that he can juggle the task of running a ministry yet maintain his roles at home as seemlessly as possible.

Needs. We have random needs. We need a dryer. Yes, we live in a hot climate but winters are cold and wet. This is need is about $250. We have a major car service to do as well, it's about $1500. With Lauren being sick, and most of having to visit the doctors, we're out about another $500 with medication included.

And, as usual, we always need prayer for our finances. We know this goes without saying, but we really do need to raise more monthly support. Aaron has been traveling every 6-8 weeks since we got back to Perth last October. Most trips will be about $2000 Aussie dollars. Our prayer is that we can raise a team of people who would support Aaron's trips into Nepal and East Timor.

THANK YOU to each and every one of you for reading our updates. They may be a bit lengthy and maybe they cover things you have already heard but it means a lot to us to keep you all informed and connected with us. One of the hardest parts of being called into over seas missions is being away from home. We miss all of you very much and each of you play a huge roll, as our support team, that carries us through. You're all so dear to us!

Blessing and much love,

Aaron, Robin, Kamryn, Mikayla, Levi and Lauren Little