He's Sttrretching our Faith

Hi everyone,



Hope all's well at home on Salt Spring Island. We were a little jealous of the snow back home. The kids were missing the snowmen, sledding, snowballs, etc...(so were Robin and I.) The other day we bought a $20 pool so the kids could stand to be outside in the sun without overheating. Talk about opposites!



Our life is a bit hectic here right now, we have until Wednesday, December 8th for our funds to come in for outreach. Currently we're still short nearly$5300. Yeah, I know, three days to go. Like I said in the title God is really stretching our faith right now. It's almost like the figure is so big that it does seem impossible for us to do alone. That way we need to rely on God only. He's been giving us great ideas for fundraising, the lemonade stand and then the bake sale. Robin baked 12 dozen goodies, mainly cookies for the Leonard Cohen concert just up the street from us. We sat at the end of our property and met the foot traffic coming off the main train station. What a good location. We made just over $530! The kids were amazing and really helped to open up conversations for us. It helped to conquer any fear of man that we may have had. People...bake sales don't make $500...only God's bake sales do. We just had one last night for the Jack Johnson concert and made another $200. We'll do the possible, He'll do the impossible.



Classes the past two weeks were on Lordship and Missions. Lordship was taught by a young guy from Seattle area who's 32 years old. He was really challenging for both of us. He said things that made people uncomfortable in a good way. He was definitely speaking through the Holy Spirit as he shared his love for Jesus! The Missions week was taught by an older missionary originally from New Zealand but who's moved to Turkey to work with the churches there. He really got into the Word with us and helped us see what we're all called to do. He shared with us how many people of the world hadn't heard of Jesus and where they lived, mainly in the 'ten-forty' window. He also helped us to realize what our call as a follower of Jesus really is.



Our camping trip was great for most of us. I (Aaron) got sick on the morning that we left and was laid up for most of the trip. Levi was sick too, but the girls had fun. We went on canoe trips and tried to swim as well. We saw a kangaroo at dusk with her joey down by the river. The amount of flies there was definitely unforgettable, you couldn't get away. The class played capture the flag at night and enjoyed an awesome relay race. The food was amazing. Unfortunately the following Tuesday our class had 10 people sick. It was fun though.



I really can't believe that we're almost done the lectures and that it's almost Christmas. Time has just flown by down here. The time here has been so precious for me, it's the most important period of my life. God's given me a second chance (again) to get my life right. He planned this trip from the beginning knowing how essential it was for our marriage. He's been revealing so much to me, tearing down shaky foundations of this world, and building new walls filled with truth and love. Old hurts and habits are being exposed and fixed. God's been sharing through others that what I've hid from for most of my life, that I'm called to be a leader. He's giving me more confidence and wisdom in how to lead my family as a man of God. The key for me, and all of us, is that we must only rely on God. I've learned over and over that my ways don't work. It only leads to destruction, no matter how good the intention is.



Please keep praying for us, first for outreach finances, next for healing in our marriage and wisdom in raising our kids. Also, safety in Mexico City, from the people there as well as the pollution.



I'm really excited for the next post to share how God provided the $ for us.



XO the Littles

Well, here we are enjoying 39 degree weather and it's snowing back at home with a foot of snow on the gorund! Still find this so weird.

Lots has been going on here over the last little while. We've had some really good teachings. A few weeks back we had Dave Cole teaching on Evangelism, then Colleen Noblet on Relationships. This past week we had Ari Sloots teaching on the Fear of The Lord. It was a really good week, I think we both learned a lot in this area. Ari was a great teacher, very open and honest and his way of teaching was really easy to understand.

We are starting to think more and more about outreach as it's coming up really quickly! I think we'll find out our outreach teams some time this week. They're breaking our school up into 3 groups. We're all getting excited to see who we'll be with and what region we'll be in. We are still trusting for about $12,300 au dollars. Oh, cute story for you... so last week Aaron was working at a house that had a lemon tree. There were some lemons on the ground and he had permission to take some. He came home that day and told the kids he had a treat for them and pulled 5 lemons out of his back pack. They were a little disappointed it wasn;t candy but then the girls both said 'hey, we can make lemonade!' then in the next 5 minutes they were planning out how they could make a lemonade stand SO yesterday while I was out washing cars with my school, Aaron and the kids set up their lemonade stand. They made signs and fresh squeezed lemonade and over the course of the afternoon, the kids made $100. They were so proud of themselves and are excited to add it into our outreach funds. They plan on having a cookie sale this coming Wednesday afternoon. I love seeing them so excited about little things like this.

Every little bit helps right now so their $100 dollars is pretty exciting. We are doing the possible and we'll leave it up to God to do the impossible. We are getting down to the wire for our outreach funds deadline, with less than 3 weeks to have it in. I believe the date we need to have the funds in by is December 8th. If any of you feel the urge to help us out just contact me and I can give you the details on how to do that. We believe that we will be going on outreach. God sent us to the other side of the world to do this so why wouldn't he see to it that we go all the way in his plans for us?! Please keep us in your prayers. If you're wanting some specific areas we need prayer in you can pray for the following:

-Outreach Finance/if you're feeling prompted to help us

-Protection for our family while in Mexico City, mainly the kids.

-Mikayla is having really bad dreams at night so maybe you could pray for her.

The kids are doing great here, have lots of friends and each of them have made some really strong relationships. Levi is getting so big, I can't believe it. Mikayla had a sleep over at her friend Sophia's last weekend. Kamryn will be going to her friend Alyssa's to be home schooled a few mornings a week. Right now she usually comes into lectures with us and sits with a staff member. She likes this but the idea of going to Alyssa'a for school is pretty exciting for her. They are all doing so well and adjusted better than I thuoght they would.

On Wednesday afternoon the entire base went to City Beach for dinner and a swim. It was great! Best of all Aaron and I got to throw the ball around on the beach, I loved it! Made me think of all the good times we have back at home in the summer with our slo-pitch team and how they would have loved to be there with us too! We could have shown these Aussie's how we do it!

On Friday we went for our outreach shots. The kids needed Hep A as well as Typhoid. Luckily this was in one injection. They all did well, no tears! Aaron and I got Typhoid as well but in pill form. We thought these would cost about $1,100 but the bill was only about $800 and it turns out we will get about half of that back so that's an answer to prayer in itself!

This week our lectures will be on Lordship. Best of all though, we are leaving first thing Friday morning to go CAMPING! We're really looking forward to this. I think we're heading a few hours North of here to do some rustic camping. Yes, we will have tents and yes I will be careful of bugs and snakes! I've heard we will have camp fires and smores as well as some capture the flag at night and some good old fashioned canoe wars. I will post pictures once we're back.

Thanks to all of you who check in on us by email and to those of you who have sent us cards in the mail. It might seem small to you but it's really encouraging to us to know we are missed back at home! Bye for now!

xo The Littles

Hey from sunny Australia! We are finally starting to get into the hot weather, today was 31 degrees! It's hard to believe it's already November and that we've been away from home for over 5 weeks. It hasn't been easy being here but the lectures and application have been amazing and we're learning a lot in the classroom and also learning a lot about us as individuals. Last week in lectures we had an amazing teacher named Chris Adams and he taught on Worship and Intercession. He's awesome...sports a mullet and facial piercing with a big soft heart. Our kids have made friends with his 3 daughters who are close in age to our kids and I'm friends with his wife. Great people. This week we are learning about Evangelism with Dave Cole. I'm loving his Kiwi accent! It should be a good week.

Some of you may know that I (Robin) was really struggling here for the first while and though the urge to go home still lingers, I have decided to stay for the long haul. Things are in no way perfect but I feel like I need to continue to stay here and experience all that I was meant to and if I came home early I would have been cutting myself short. Each day has it's own struggles and I am being challenged daily but am now starting to see that if I don't allow myself to be stretched, I can't find the healing I need.

So, that said, today we found out where we'll be heading on Outreach! So for the first 7 weeks we will be in Mexico City. I was very against this but have been reassured that we will be safe there and what we hear about on the news is not exactly going on in the areas we will be in. It will be COLD while we're there as they are at a higher elevation. We will be sleeping on warehouse floors and the temp at night will be right around zero and the buildings there don't have central heating. We will have to purchase down sleeping bags and thermal mats to sleep on so please pray for the funds to purchase these items. We've been told to expect to have to pay at least $500 for the 5 of us to have these things we didn't budget for.

On or around February 14th we will be heading back to the east coast of Australia to Byron Bay where we will be staying at the YWAM base there for 4 weeks. We'll hire a big bus and a big van and a few trailers and travel around the area as well. Byron Bay is a back packers tourist location that is big into new age stuff so we'll be spending 4 weeks on the beach sharing the Gospel. I'm a little scared but this is what it's all about, bringing the lost to the light! I am very much a quiet Christian so this will be a MAJOR stretch for me.

And now a little priase report. Since we last wrote about finances we have received an awesome gift of $8,000 from one person in our DTS who felt God telling him this is what he needed to give. We almost fell over laughing and it was hard to accept such a huge gift but God works in funny ways. I was still thinking about coming home at this point but really felt like this was God telling me that money isn't any issue for him and that He will provide. We are still trusting in God for the rest of the finances needed for outreach which I think is still around $10,000...give or take a few dollars! Please pray that these needs will be met. We have about 5 weeks before we have to pay the outreach fees.

So there you have it. This has been one of the hardest things I have ever done, but I'm trusting that I'm here for a reason so I'm doing my best. Home is where my heart is and reading your messages of encouragement make me see how many people love us and miss us back at home.

I've added some pictures for your viewing pleasure, one of us ready to hit the dance floor on 80's night, a view of the city of Perth and one of us on my birthday at the base.

First 3 weeks in Aussie!

Hi everyone,

So... it's been a long time since our last post... sorry to keep you all waiting. Well, we're finally here. Australia is beautiful, hot and windy, and getting hotter each day. YWAM has put us up in a small house or 'cottage.' It's great, there's two bedrooms, the kids all share a room like at home and there's a small backyard to play in. We have about a five minute walk to the base, where we have our classes, our dinner and lunches. The staff at YWAM Perth have a lot of kids about the same age as Kamryn, Mikayla and Levi. They've made friends quite easily and enjoy playing in the audiorium and the laneway. Some of the staff are similar ages as Robin and I so we have fit in quite nicely. I've passed the stage of getting the question everyday, "are you Dustin's cousin?" (Dustin Little was on staff here as well as his wife Susanna.)
It was a bit strange for both of us to be back sitting in a class for lectures. We've gotten used to it now though and are both enjoying the teaching. So far we've had two subjects, Hearing God's Voice and The Character of God. Both have been great and are easy to listen to as they are really easy to apply to our lives right away.
The kids have gotten used to eating only what is served at dinner and lunch. As a family we've had fun at the beaches, have gone to a normal zoo as well as a petting zoo and we've gone to the museum. It's really rewarding having that family time, as now with classes, we are so busy.
We've had our first chat about the outreach portion of our course. It runs from Dec. 27 for twelve weeks. Chances are that the first six weeks will be in Mexico City, and from there we'll split the class and travel to somewhere else for the remainder. The figures for us as a family will be about $18000. Yeah, we said 'WOW' as well. However we've been hinted to by God that this figure won't be that hard to reach. The testimony I have for this is really awesome:

A friend was sharing with the class that he has not much, or no money, but God still calls him to give and he does so cheerfully. Robin and I were quite inspired by this and decided that we would secretly give him $50 in an envelope. I delayed doing this in order to ask our leader's opinion as to the best way to go about this. Two days later the same friend came up and gave me a note in an envelope. I didn't open it until hours later when I was with Robin. As I opened it I realized that it was money inside! I didn't need to count it as I knew how much it already was. To us this really showed God's humour. It also seemed to be a message from God saying: 'Trust me with your finances, I will provide.'

So keep thinking of us and praying for our safety and finances. We miss you all and do think of Salt Spring everyday while we sit in the sun!

For those of you who feel like you're being prompted to help us come up with our outreach costs, you can do so directly at the YWAM website, http://www.ywamperth.org.au Once there, scroll down to the bottom of the homepage to donate/pay and it will walk you through how to donate. Just be sure to add our names in the recipient section and mark it as a gift. Blessings to you!

Aaron, Robin, Kamryn, Mikayla and Levi

Well, it's been a while since I wrote but that doesn't mean God hasn't been working in our lives! We were blessed enough to be featured in a column in Island Child Magazine as well as have our photo and story on the front page of the Driftwood's Weekender edition. The Weekender was fantastic for local exposure. It felt so good to receive so many nice comments from people (we didn't know) as we went about our daily chores in town.

We have made another big step...we bought our plane tickets!! This was a little scary, it was a lot of money but the deal was too good to pass up so we will be leaving on September 23rd and arriving in Perth around noon on the 25th with the time change. The countdown is on...t-minus 3 months and 3 weeks!

We know that God has big plans for us. For this trip financially, we are still having troubles figuring out how this is going to happen but we know that we have to be faithful and know that God will provide...in His time, NOT ours! We have been blessed and had people surprise us with financial gifts so those are glimmers of hope and a little window into what God's plan is and that He'll make sure we are taken care of.

We have some fund raising events coming up so I'll report back after those to tell you where we are at with everything!

Oh, and I almost forgot, the Spring edition of Island Child magazine is out and we are in it! Lisa Reda, the editor and 'mompreneur' behind the mag invited us to write a colomn about our upcoming trip! Very cool, we are thankful for people like her! Thanks again Lisa.

What's Next?

Wow, time is sure going by quickly now! We have about 5 months before we leave and I feel like we have so much to do before September. I am trying hard not to stress and to leave the details up to God but this is so hard! I believe this is part of what God wants me to learn though so it's fine, I am doing my best to let go of my control issues.

We had a big garage sale in March at the church and it was wonderful to see all of the support! We had lots of people donate some great items for us to sell and by the end of the day we made just over $2,000! There's one plane ticket! To date, between saving and financial gifts we have been given, we have made about $7,000 which means we still need around $28,000. I have been told of some great fund raising ideas, and the next one I am working on is a "Dessert and Silent Auction" night. I have approached some people who I felt might be interested in donating their time or talents and have quite a few more people/businesses I am going to ask. I really want to make this a community event in hopes that lots of our friends from the island will come. We have a wonderful church family as well as many friends in the community so we hope to mesh the two groups and have a fun night!

As some of you know, Aaron and I went away to Switzerland for the first 2 weeks of April to attend Dustin and Susanna's wedding. This was an amazing 2 weeks with a quick stop in Vegas to surprise one of my best friends who lives there. While in Switzerland, we met some amazing people and it just so happens that some of them will actually be in Perth on the YWAM base when we get there! It was awesome to make some friends that will be in Australia to greet us when we arrive. We saw God's hands all over that vacation, from start to finish and felt so blessed to have time set apart for just the two of us. We needed a little time together before we set out for our next big adventure, but now we are ready and going full speed ahead!

If you haven't read the rest of my posts, please do! They have lots of details about our needs, what we're doing and our finances. Speaking of which, we came home to yet another envelope from a friend wanting to be one of our 140...if you don't know what that means, go read my other posts to find out! I think we are down to needing about 120 or so instead of 140 so this is good! You too can be one of our 140, it's pretty easy to become part of this elite group! Thanks for reading and come back for more soon! We appreciate your love and support and appreciate any help you can offer, weather it be your prayers, fund raising ideas, financial advice or gifts, or whatever it may be. We already feel so blessed to have so many people standing with us as we make our way to Perth to live out God's plans for our family. Blessings to you!