We were honored to not only begin our deputation on February 1st, 2019, but this also began our full-time ministry. By God's grace alone, we were able to start, from day one, full-time deputation and have seen the Lord provide for us every step of the way.

 

When we received our twelfth statement we rejoiced that the Lord gave us 41% of our needed support. we rejoiced in six souls coming to know the Lord as their Savior.

 

We also welcomed Willow Lareina Young into our family as our first child.

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It is no secret that the COVID months have greatly affected our deputation. We were able to travel for one full year where we averaged 12-13 meetings per month. But from March of 2020 to June of 2020, we only had a handful of meetings. It is understandable that we had many cancelations because of COVID.

We firmly believe that if we cannot learn the language then we will be ineffective in our ministry. This time will consist of our family going to Language School.  Not only will we attended classes in a class setting, but we will be out in public before and after classes communicating the best we can. We have been taught by our Pastor Austin Gardner and Missions Director Jeff Bush that learning the language is best done through immersion.

 

This time will also be used to effectively learn the Colombian culture. We want to live and be like Colombian people as much as we can. It is our hope and prayer that during these two years we will be able to learn as much as possible about the people, their language, and their culture.

 

During the first two years of language school, we will have plenty of time to see much of Colombia and prayerfully seek the Lord on where He wants us to go. As many of you are aware, Colombia, South America is a spiritually needy country. 95% of Colombians believe in a works-based religion. In that two-year time frame, we will have ample time to consider a part of Colombia to spend our lives. We are currently praying about Medellin or Choco in Colombia.

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We are grateful to know the Sanabria family serving in Caldas, Colombia. They have become good friends with my family and me. During language school, we will be serving alongside them in their ministry helping them in any way possible. We will do all we can to help build and grow their ministry during this time. After these two years, we will begin our own ministry in Colombia.

We believe in indigenous churches. That they should be self-propagating, self-supporting, and self-governing. These churches should be lead by national pastors who are men.

 

As God gives us young men who are saved and baptized, if they have a calling on their lives to become Pastors then we will begin training immediately. Our target age groups will be anywhere between 15-25 years of age. We will teach them using a "with-ness" mentality, which is considered a form of mentoring. We will eat with each other, study, preach, teach, pray, give the Gospel, pray over the city, learn, dream, help each other, and more. 80% of our ministry time will be spent with those young men. 

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