Hi Friends!
We have some exciting news! After our 6 week honeymoon and vision trip to Greece and Türkiye, our hearts were stirred by the Lord to begin dreaming about what would it look like to commit to living somewhere overseas? We left our time with friends and these 2 beautiful countries feeling alive and full of new dreams. It was so exciting for me (Sara) to see Christian come alive and dream about young people all over the world having their lives transformed by Jesus. We went to Patmos during our trip. This is the island where John the Beloved (he wrote John the Gospel, 1,2, and 3 John, and Revelation) was sent to live in exile and he later had an encounter with the Lord and wrote Revelation. We were able to visit the cave where it is said that John had the vision of Revelation. Patmos was definitely one of the highlights for Christian. He kept saying that the vibes were ~immaculate~! They really were something special. There was such a peace on the island and we both felt the nearness of God.
During our brief stay in Patmos, I began to ask the question to everyone who lived there "what do you do?" Patmos is a tourist island and so for 6 months of the year, their community thrives off tourism. But for the other 6 months, Patmos is like a ghost town. One girl that we met, Electra, she is a university student in Athens, but works in Patmos in the summer. She grew up in Patmos and something she mentioned was how bored she got when the tourists were gone. The wheels in Christian's head began to turn as he started to dream about what would it look like for revival to come to Patmos, to reach university students like Electra who get bored during the off season? This question has marked the both of us for communities all around the world that are bored and longing to give their life to something. That something is Jesus and life with Him is an adventure! Which brings me to my next point... where in the world are we?
Well, we came home from our extended honeymoon at the beginning of September with the intention of settling down for a year in Smyrna, GA (where we both have been the last few years serving with SBS). We weren't 100% certain that this is what we felt the Lord say, but really we had no other doors open for us (we had been asking the Lord to open doors for us during our time in Greece and Türkiye). The morning that we were driving up to Atlanta to look at apartments and begin applying for jobs, a slight crack of a door opened for us to come back to Kona, Hawaii for the next 3 months to be full-time staff with one of the Discipleship Training Schools (DTS). It was the craziest timing! So we prayed about it and felt like we could come as long as we could have on campus housing. And just last Monday, we were told that we have on campus housing in Kona for the next 3 months! So, we quickly packed up our bags and bought flights to come to Kona. We had a quick few days in Colorado with my family and flew into Kona this last Monday afternoon. We have been here for 3 days now and are settling slowly but surely.
Spending time with Christian's grandparents in Alabama
Spending time with my grandparents in Estes Park, Colorado
A sneak peak of our home in Kona
We missed being in rooms filled with young people exalting Jesus
Sooo, remind me, what is DTS? I'm so glad you asked! DTS is a 6 month discipleship training school run through YWAM Kona. The first 3 months are all lectures with different speakers and topics each week. Some of the different weeks are character and nature of God, biblical worldview, evangelism, Holy Spirit, and Father heart of God. During our time in Kona, Christian and I will both be intentionally walking alongside a set group of students from the DTS. We are both so excited because discipleship is something we are both really passionate about! And it will be so fun to share some of our Bible background from SBS!! The last 2-3 months of DTS is spent on outreach. We will be leading an international outreach with a team of students from the DTS and we are just as excited for that portion. We can update you soon on the location of our outreach and with the students on our team so that you can be praying for us.
Staffing DTS in our first year of marriage was definitely a curveball, but it has been so fun to learn together with Christian how to hear God and obey Him together. It's a gift to also be in Kona with some of our best friends again. It is truly a full circle moment for the both of us, living in Kona as singles with the same friend group now living in Kona married with the same friend group. God is a kind God, who cares about the details. We are so grateful to follow His leadership and His voice!
Okay my concluding thoughts! Really just a plug to share our wedding video with you all: Winter's Wedding Video. I have watched this video multiple times and every time I watch it, I am just filled with gratefulness to the Lord for this special day. It was so beautiful and holy. The last almost 3 months of being married to Christian have been filled with redemption. We have had so much fun learning how to live together and care for one another as husband and wife. There is a new joy and laughter that fills our home like never before. Our hearts are coming alive in new ways and it is the kindness of God to give us each other. We are so grateful to our friend, David Nobles, who made this video for us. If you live in the Atlanta area and are looking for a wedding photographer, check him out (Someday Wedding Films).
PRAYER POINTS:
1. Help finding our place in the DTS and energy to keep up with the students
2. More opportunities to walk in boldness and faith in sharing the Gospel and the truth with 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. My (Sara) thyroid levels have been all over the place, would you pray that the Lord heals my thyroid issues fully
As I was spending time with the Lord the last few mornings, I have been marked by Acts 17:27-28:
"His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him - though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'"
These 2 verses have moved my heart in a new way the last few mornings. Jesus has always been the plan, the way, for the nations to be drawn back to God. Not only that, but we have all been made in the image of the LIVING GOD. Without Jesus, we would be nothing. Jesus made the way for the nations to seek after Him, to seek after God. What a gift!
May you experience the nearness of Jesus in your life; the truth that He made a way for you to find Him and draw near.
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
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