Outreach!!!

This is real life :)

We are so excited to announce that as the second part of our Family DTS we will be travelling to Mindanao Island in the Philippines for an 8 week missions/outreach trip! We leave at the end of June and will be there until Mid August. It is going to be a great time of love, service and adventure for our family. We are looking forward to our kids being able to play with the children in the Philippines and hug all the aunties and uncles and show them love (cultural lesson of the day: auntie and uncle is a sign of respect to elders, much like how we say "Miss" or "Mister" in America.) I am excited to be able to say "God loves you so much that he sent me here to show that love, no strings attached. Just because you are valuable to him."

Our team is 6 families: 12 adults and 17 children. Our kiddos are aged infant to 17, and we have families with 0, 2, 5, 4, and 5 kids. We represent America, Korea, Singapore, Burkina Faso, and Puerto Rico. We love our team members and are thrilled to be on this amazing adventure with them!

By the grace of God our Hawaii portion of our training has been paid in full. Through lots of prayer, selling things, generosity of my parents to allow us to live with them and save our mortgage money, and "doing everything possible", we had a beautiful zero balance by the time we arrived. Our outreach portion, however, is not.

As you can imagine, it is not cheap for a family of 7 to travel overseas for 2 months. I was hesitant to share the full amount (I don't really know why...), but we estimate that the cost is going to be around $20,000. As with ALL of YWAM (yep, even the doctors and lawyers), we are self-funded missionaries, which means we are responsible for raising the funds for our trip.
We would be honored if you, our friends and family, near or far, would consider financially supporting our journey in any way you can. Every dollar really does help, as does sharing our story with your friends, church, co-workers, etc.

If you would like to contribute financially, you can send money via PayPal to mrthefishdude@yahoo.com (It should come up as Nicholas Smith).

As always, even more than dollars, your prayers are coveted! We look forward to sharing the amazing things that are going to happen on this journey! Whether you are able to support us financially or not, we feel that we are bringing a part of each of you with us to the Philippines and are thankful for your love, support and prayers :)

Who are you?

Hello from the tail end of Week 2 of Family DTS!

It... has been a week. A HARD week. A challenging, questioning, ugly crying, beautiful kind of week.

This week our theme was "Identity, Destiny, and Legacy." In foundation school, our big three learned all about how special they are because God created them and loves them. Jordan is memorizing Psalm 139:14: I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works, my soul knows it well." She made a little book all about herself and said she wants to be a Mommy when  she grows up, and wants to visit Venus and Star Wars.

To the hard stuff: What I really want to share with everyone is that we believe a lot of lies about ourselves. And about God. And about other people. Maybe they come from how we are raised, or something someone said about us once and we internalized it, or a way we were treated for years. Maybe we were being taught by people that just didn't know any better.

You are not who others say you are.

You are not the faults that other people put on you, the rejection others send your way, or the crappy things their actions imply.

You are valuable.
Your words have power and they need to be heard.
Your love is healing and it needs to be shared.
God speaks to you and it is enough.
You are HIS masterpiece.
The way you relate to others is unique and important.
The way you hear from the Lord is sufficient in the most complete and perfect way possible.
You have not been forgotten.
You are likeable.
You have not missed your boat.
You are not beyond repair.
You are able.
You are not the sum of your mistakes.
You are not a burden to God or to others.
You are the evidence of His grace, mercy, and love.
You are a VITAL piece of His creation.

YOU are loved. You ARE loved. You are LOVED.

First Impressions

Hello from beautiful Kona, Hawaii!

I can't believe we are actually HERE. It seemed like it would never happen... I actually had myself convinced the plane was going to crash in the Pacific and I'd be evading smoke monsters and hiding from The Others for the next 3 years...

But we are here! It has been a crazy 3 days (which started with a 4 hour delay in Seattle, which led to us. Sing the VERY last of 600+ people to arrive) and my brain is TIRED. We start classes tomorrow but we've already met a bunch of people- including someone from Rathdrum. What the what? INW is representing at DTS this quarter!!

Some highlights: Jordan and Zoe have already met their best friends, and leave it to my little socialites to find girls from two different countries- Zoes BFF is from Canada, and Jordan's is from South Korea.
We made it to the beach today... it was 1/2 a mile of highway hiking, but we made it!
Hawaiian culture- I'm obsessed. I had to stop myself from stalking the islanders in a Walmart (yes, made it there too--- 3 mile hike round trip) and asking them to adopt me.
Everyone being so welcoming and friendly to our family.
Currently hearing 3 different languages being spoken outside my window (Korean, Norwegian, and English).
Being able to learn in-person from Lauren and Darlene Cunningham (the founders of YWAM)
Not having to prepare, cook, or clean up after a single meal. And the food is GOOD.
The three bigs loving their school (they had a half day Friday.) They didn't even want a weekend, they wanted more foundation school!!
Spending time with our awesome cousin/nanny.
So. Much. Jesus. :D

Love from all, to all!!!
Xoxoxo
The Smiths