Well, Hello friends!
We realize it's been a few months since we last sent out an update so time for a quick burst of our lives over the last few months!
The last few months have been....well....a time of stretching for both Aaron and I. Stretching is a good thing but definitely uncomfortable at times. As we have both discovered, though, times of stretching brings us into greater depths of capacity.
Back in June, I (Robin) had the wonderful privilege of teaching for a full week on the Homes Of Hope the Discipleship Training School.
Though there were only 6 students and 2 staff, it was an honor to be asked to teach. The topic was relationships, something I feel I have done very well and yet have made so many mistakes. Teaching for the week was fun, challenging, terrifying, interesting, sometimes uncomfortable but also a great time of remembering how good God has been in restoring relationships in my life. We laughed, we cried, we journeyed together!
These guys are currently on the 3 month outreach phase of their DTS. They're in Fiji at the moment and will soon head off to Nepal where Aaron will meet up with them in a small village to do a Homes OF Hope house build. Aaron is looking to leave around August 14th with a few other guys from his ministry.
WINTERCAMP! Well this was a little surprise for both Aaron and I. YWAM Perth has a youth ministry called Nexwave. They work with youth in the city as well as the teens on base. Every winter and Summer they run camps over the school holidays. The leader of the ministry wasn't able to lead the camp for week 1 so, very last minute, Aaron was asked to lead the camp. Then, the next day, I was asked to be the guest speaker at the camp for two days. This was fun! So, Aaron spent the week down south where, for the record, it was freezing cold! Yes, there was frost on the windscreen one morning. I commuted back and forth which was a lot of driving but it's beautiful country driving.
I taught on the traps that we face as teenagers, peer pressure and how to gain back our identity in Christ. Aaron was overseeing everything including the 25 campers, the 30 camp staff, and was in charge of any decisions that needed to be made. He wasn't sure how he would do since this was a new area for him but he did a great job and left camp feeling full of hope for all the campers as they figure out their relationship with God. He may have stayed in bed for awhile the day after camp ended....
We have felt very blessed over the last 12 months. We have lost a few supporters but we have also gained a lot of people who have been blessing us with one time donations here and there which have helped us through times that could have been tough. We have maintained good relationships with our church family back on Salt Spring and have also been getting to know new people at our church here in Perth. BCC (Bedford Community Church) is a wonderful place where we have felt so welcomed. Aaron has been given the chance to share a lot about his ministry as well as share the message on Sunday mornings occasionally.
Kamryn and I have been invited to be guest speakers at an upcoming Lady's Breakfast! Sharing on the topic of Being Brave. We love that they invite us to be such a big part the the church even though our YWAM schedule can keep us very busy and we don't make it to Sunday services very often.
As you can see, our kids are all getting very big but they're all doing very well. We still home school, we still have a lot of time together, we still don't see eye to eye all the time but we are loving the quality time we have. We realize we only have a few more years until Kamryn starts to make her own path in life. We value this time!
These guys are currently on the 3 month outreach phase of their DTS. They're in Fiji at the moment and will soon head off to Nepal where Aaron will meet up with them in a small village to do a Homes OF Hope house build. Aaron is looking to leave around August 14th with a few other guys from his ministry.
Homes of Hope is going through a time of growth as far as people are concerned. He has just had an Aussie guy join the ministry and a guy from Canada is waiting for his Visa. As well, several people in the process of praying about joining. If they all join he will have 13 people working with him! Exciting times for him and the ministry.
I taught on the traps that we face as teenagers, peer pressure and how to gain back our identity in Christ. Aaron was overseeing everything including the 25 campers, the 30 camp staff, and was in charge of any decisions that needed to be made. He wasn't sure how he would do since this was a new area for him but he did a great job and left camp feeling full of hope for all the campers as they figure out their relationship with God. He may have stayed in bed for awhile the day after camp ended....
Kamryn and I have been invited to be guest speakers at an upcoming Lady's Breakfast! Sharing on the topic of Being Brave. We love that they invite us to be such a big part the the church even though our YWAM schedule can keep us very busy and we don't make it to Sunday services very often.
As you can see, our kids are all getting very big but they're all doing very well. We still home school, we still have a lot of time together, we still don't see eye to eye all the time but we are loving the quality time we have. We realize we only have a few more years until Kamryn starts to make her own path in life. We value this time!
CANADA!!! We're really excited for a trip home in November! It's hard to believe it has already been two years. This trip is both for purpose and pleasure as we have to renew our Visa but we miss our friends and families terribly! We could renew our Visa in Australia but it makes sense for us to do it while we are home; Australia has a rule that you can apply onshore in Australia once for free. After that, you pay $700 per person, even dependents. This would mean an extra charge of $4,200! Just makes sense to do this while on Canadian soil.
We have seen a lot of generosity in regards to this upcoming trip/Visa Run. As some of you may recall, we had a terrible time making it home last time. Several issues stood in our way. This time we started fundraising very early and saw very cheap flights with a very good airline with the perfect flight path! So, we were able to purchase our return flights for under $8,000 for all 6 of us with the help of our lovely friends, family and supporters pitching in to send us on this journey. A big thank you to those of you have already been part of the process! We still have some finance to raise to cover the rest of the Visa, the health insurance and one or two of Aaron's trips overseas with Homes of Hope. Contact us if you would like to help towards any of these. We are also happy to send out more detailed breakdown of costs for anyone interested.
Well, that about sums it up for now. Thanks for taking the time to read about what we're up to! We appreciate all of you who have supported us along the way whether prayerfully, financially or both.
If you are interested to know more details about why we are here in YWAM Perth, please ask! We will share. If you're interested to know more depth of our financial needs, please contact us and we can share details with you.
Blessings!
Love Aaron, Robin, Kamryn, Mikayla, Levi and Lauren Little
