by Sara Winter
We have been back in Kona now for about 6 weeks and have 6 more weeks to go until we leave for outreach! When we decided to come to Kona, I (Sara), felt from the Lord that He wanted to redeem staffing DTS for me. I led a team of 10 students by myself to South Africa a few years ago and it was definitely a stretching season for me. While I was in SBS 2 years ago, I felt Holy Spirit put it on my heart that I would one day staff DTS again and that He would redeem that season for me. I really believe that there will be so much redemption in this season for me. I can honestly say that even within the first few weeks of staffing DTS, I have been met by God in new, profound ways.
During the third week of our school, we had an incredible speaker come and teach on the topic of freedom. Adam, our speaker, communicated with such clarity and conviction on freedom throughout the week. Adam really went hard after freedom from sexual impurity and freedom from hearts of offense. It was such an incredible week where Jesus was tangibly meeting and healing hearts that have been shackled to lies for weeks, months, or even years. At the end of the week, Adam gave the entire class the opportunity to stand on a chair in the middle of the room and declare the lies they are coming out of and the identity they are coming into. It was one of the most holy moments I have ever been apart of. Tears continued to stream down my face as student after student got on the chair to declare they were no longer going to live in the darkness or chained to the lies of the enemy, but they were going to live in the Light, fully set free from shame, fully living in the Truth of who God created them to be. I look back at that week and I am marked by how the power of God rested on each student as they were so bold to share a glimpse of their story and the redemption of who Jesus is in their life. Christian looked at me and said "why would we ever want to do anything else with our lives?" Truly, we have loved this season of discipleship with Gen Z.
We also were assigned our outreach teams during freedom week which was so exciting! What a fun week to really enter into intentional discipleship with people as they are meeting the Man who sets them free!! Christian and I will be leading a team of 6 students to Cyprus!! We are really excited about the 6 students that God has entrusted us in this season. We can't wait to see how God continues to move in their lives throughout the rest of lecture phase and how they step into boldness on outreach!
Praying over students in the DTS of what God says about them and who He created them to be
Celebrating students declaring the FREEDOM they found in Jesus
Our team! We met with a couple that had lived in Cyprus for years before coming to Kona to be on staff here! Such a rich time of learning all about Cyprus :)
We are having fun going on walks and dates along Ali'i drive!
Outside of discipleship and walking alongside young people in this season, Christian and I are extremely excited to be going to Cyprus. We had wanted to visit Cyprus on our honeymoon to see if it was a location that we would potentially move to in the near future. It ended up not working out, but it is the kindness of God to open up a door for us to be in Cyprus for 2 months. We will be connected with the long term team in Cyprus which will be so fun! During our time in Cyprus, we will be meeting with a lot of university students and hosting gatherings for these students to hear the Gospel. Our time will look a lot like making friends and inviting them into the events we are hosting! We are full of faith that there are friends in Cyprus we have yet to meet who will want to know about Jesus, who will want to read the Bible with us and ask questions, and who are open to the Gospel!
We are so grateful for the doors that the Lord has opened for us in this season. Grateful to be here in Kona working with our friends again, grateful for the ways God has provided for us already in this season, grateful we are going to Cyprus, grateful for our students and how Jesus is changing their lives each week, and grateful that Jesus is revealing Himself to us in new ways!
We are looking to raise $5,400 to take our team of 6 students to Cyprus this December. It will cover the cost of housing, flights, food, and transportation. Our deadline to raise this amount is November 21! We have already been met with so many people wanting to partner with us in this season and it has filled us with faith for the ways that God wants to provide for this outreach. If you've made it this far through our email update, we would love to invite you into praying for us to lead this team. There's also the practical aspect as well that we are in needing of people who want to partner with us financially. If that's you, please send us a message, we would love to share more details with what we are doing, what our students are like, and what we are believing God will do during this outreach. A tax-deductible option for giving is this link: Winter's Giving Link or you can give through Venmo (@SaraDavis03, @Christian-Winter-26). We are truly grateful for each one of you who has said yes to partnering with us in every season of missions. We would not be able to say yes to following Jesus if it were not for you! Thank you for cheering us on, supporting us, and partnering with us!
PRAYER POINTS:
1. Help finding our place in the DTS and energy to keep up with the students
2. Wisdom and discernment on how to care for, love, and empower our students
3. God to continue to reveal Himself to Christian and I
4. To learn how to keep Jesus at the center of everything we do and protect and prioritize our marriage in this season - we are so excited to be doing what we are doing, but we also want to remember our first yes is to friendship with Jesus and our second yes is to our marriage and everything else is after that
5. God's provision in our finances, especially for outreach!
The last few weeks I have been sitting in Hebrews 10. The last verse of the chapter really gets me every time. Hebrews 10:39 says, "But we are not like those who turn away from God to their own destruction. We are the faithful ones, whose souls will be saved." Last Sunday, we had our entire DTS watch the Passion of the Christ. It was my first time watching it and it was moving for sure. I noticed that John the disciple never left the side of Jesus and that was so marking for me. I felt the question rise up in my spirit, "will I remain faithful to Jesus at the end of my life?" The truth is that I want to be found faithful like John was found faithful. That's my prayer for my life in this season, is that no matter what comes, I would be found faithful following Jesus no matter where He leads. My prayer for you in this season is that you would see the hand of God in your own life. That you would be able to trace back time and time again how God has led you, has kept you safe, has provided for you in every season!
May you be reminded of the faithfulness of God in your life and would that spark a response of remaining faithful to Him!
Let us know how we can pray personally for each of you!! We would love to hop on a call with anyone who would like to hear more about what's next!
Joyfully,
Sara and Christian Winter
If you feel led to partner with me financially, you can click the link here to sign up
Or you can give through Venmo: @SaraDavis03 or @Christian-Winter-26
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