Back in the Swing of Things
Hello again from Ivan and Cate (Cate writing this time!). If you didn’t already know, Ivan and I spent time in YWAM Perth where we were volunteering and participating in schools for over a year. We felt God calling us out of Perth for a period of time in July, 2020. We felt God was blessing us with an opportunity to be with our families and get married, and that's just what we did! We spent Nine months in Switzerland with Ivan’s family and with YWAM Chatel as Ivan did his ATCM… Fast forward to the middle of April, 2021, and we were headed to Florida as a married couple to be with my family for a time. We were able to spend an exciting six months in Florida to connect with our Church, The Gathering, bond with my family, and enjoy each other as we saw his world and now mine. Being of two different countries and cultures we see just how much of a blessing it was to get to know each other in this way.
While being in Florida special times with my family were spread throughout the entire six months. Thank you to my immediate family, the McGinnis crew, to my grandparents, and the rest of my extended family that spread love to us during our stay. We also had the chance to establish a relationship with our home church,The Gathering, as a couple. We joined a small group and gained friends that we won’t forget! Thank you Ocean City group for taking us in as family and helping us to feel warmth in the church community. We had the chance to get to know all the local surfers thanks to Tim and Fluid Surf shop. Tim and his crew took me and even Ivan under their wings and helped us to thrive in Fort Walton Beach. Thank you to Fluid, to Paige, and to the rest of the crew! We love you! Before departing Fluid surf shop hosted our goodbye/launch party when we closed our chapter in Fort Walton. A few last things we got to do before coming to YWAM Ships were firstly visiting Costa Rica (for a visa run/honeymoon). Watch below for a few clips of that. Lastly spending thanksgiving week in Georgia with family. This wrapped up our time so beautifully as we said goodbye slowly and prepared for our next move.
Left: My little brother Keegan and me goofing around while we pack down our temporary FL home in the background.
Middle: Posing with Addi and my birthday charcuterie board!
Right: My sisters and I just chilling!
Future: After spending these six memorable months in Florida, We have felt the Lord leading us back into YWAM, only this time into YWAM Ships in Kona ( Website: https://www.ywamshipskona.org/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAk4aOBhCTARIsAFWFP9GUQnPOBLn6ODk_-QhV1B6ozk8OOPOIvt7QeKUSzbCbNH56tYZkfBoaAu-NEALw_wcB ). We have felt the calling towards this direction since the end of October, and we knew that there would be more doors to open once we arrived. We came to the base as volunteers (not official staff members helping or participating in schools), and signed up to work in the kitchen for six weeks. We quickly saw the confirmation of God calling us to stay here a bit more long term within the first three weeks. The Lord blessed Ivan and me with a very quick transition.. Ivan could tell you horror stories of being with me in transition.. This process can take me months to go through and it is not an easy one whatsoever. However, this time around we were embraced with so much comfort from God and love from the staff of this base. We know God is calling us to join staff here in Kona. Ivan will be finishing his bachelors degree with University of the Nations (In the counseling field, schools following will be Addictive Behavior Counseling school, Communication school and Worldview School, finishing with an internship seminar. I myself will e doing things outside of YWAM like getting a certificate in surf coaching, diving deep into french studies, and continuing with writing and art! I will be staffing at YWAM Ships as well, but I'm still figuring out the perfect place that God has for me inside the missions field here! Updates to come on this...
As of right now we have many prayer requests that we ask you to intercede for us in. I’ll share these below! Thank you so much for reading this far, and supporting us with your prayers and finances!
One big reason we feel to stay in Kona is because we see the Lord highlighting the wisdom there is in obtaining a green card for Ivan, which can easily be a two year process, and during the duration he will need to stay in the states for a majority of it. This green card does not come for free so we are trusting for 3,500 dollars to higher attorney, and go through the application.
As staff we are completely dependent on donations that people give, and we are trusting for monthly givers! This means people who sign up on our website give a certain amount of money every month to provide for basic needs as well as hopefully savings for outreaches. At the moment we hope to get to the point of receiving 3,000$ a month for the two of us. We are currently receiving 848$ per month so we are trusting for more monthly donation to reach this goal! This could look like 30 people giving a little over 70 dollars a month, 10 people giving about 215 dollars, or 100 people giving about 22 dollars a month!
As this base is so cool;) the space here is very limited. YWAM ships won’t have any room for us to live starting January 4th, so we need to find an apartment, or shared home off of the base! You can pray for an affordable place, great house mates, and the Lord’s placement over all of this! On the same way, living out of base require a car. Pray that we would find as well something affordable and that could bless us during our stay here.
For any donation, our page "donation" is open, with ways to give from USA, Switzerland and Australia. As well on the homepage you can subscribe and receive all our next newsletter that will be coming every month! There is also the little message bubble, don't hesitate to write us with questions, encouragement and advises. God bless you and keep you. Much love!