2 Corinthians 1:8-11

For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

The apostle Paul was certainly suffering far mor hardship than the Yates family but with the moving day coming so soon we are starting to feel "utterly burdened beyond our strength". For indeed what we are trying to do is truly counter to our normal nature to keep life simple and restful. We are burdened by the work but more so we are burdened by the loss of leaving. The changing nature of relationships as we move away to the other half of the planet is felt as loss and hardship.

But we are reminded to rely not on our failing strength but on his strength. When we put our hope in what he can do instead of what we can get done we are free! And that through prayer our family and friends are connected to our struggle and can share in God's plan in this season.

Thank you for your prayers. We hope that you are also sharing in the blessing and thanking God for his strength for us.

Welcome Wendy Gray to our team

We, the Yates and the Simpsons, would like to welcome Wendy Gray to our team! As Many of you know we have been praying about having someone join us from the US for language school to help with child care during our classroom time from August until December. It would facilitate more family time, improve our language learning together and help ease the transition for our children to have someone familiar and consistent.

After over a month of emails, telephone calls, conversations and prayer, we have found someone to join us. We had all but decided that this was not God's plan. And then 3 weeks ago, during our introduction at Reality in Carpinteria, Wendy approached us after service saying she wanted to pray with us about joining our team for a few months. After a few conversations, prayers and God's leading, we were excited to invite her to come. Wendy is a recently retired preschool teacher and was teaching Spanish to her students. Since retirement she has been praying about what God would have for her in this next season of her life. She loves children and is excited about early childhood education. She has a passion for languages and is fluent in Spanish and conversational in ASL. She has traveled around the world and spent months at a time working at an orphanage in Colombia. She has 3 grown children and lives in Ojai California.

One of the sweetest parts of this process has been that after we invited Wendy to join our team, a friend of mine on our prayer team told me that Wendy had been her spiritual mentor when she was a young girl and was good friends with Wendy's youngest daughter. What confirmation!

We are so excited for her to join our team. Please keep her in your prayers as she enters a time of transition with all the struggles, logistics and good byes ahead.