Dear family, friends and supporters of UK for Jesus,
Howdy from the snow-covered fields of New Waverly, Texas! Thankfully, we've been able to stay safe and warm during this extremely un-Texas-like weather.
It’s been a few weeks now since sharing the news that we are not returning to the UK. In that moment, it seemed the most terrifying and impossible mountain to scale, even though we had complete peace that it was God’s best plan for our family. There is still quite a lot of ground to cover to fully make it over to the other side, but God is faithful and we continue to have His reassurance through this twist in our journey.
(If you missed the big news, you can get caught up by clicking here.)
Since that announcement, a lot has happened. Trevor returned to Cornwall alone and, in under 3 weeks and with very little help due to having to remain completely isolated, he sorted through *every single thing* in our home, sold or gave away what we couldn’t bring, readied for the international movers what could be brought and tied up all the loose ends that required one of us in-person. Some dear friends helped further with errands he wasn’t able to run and a few final things that had to be sorted out after he left. Meanwhile, I managed logistics across timezones and began the process of settling into a temporary home here with family, for which we are deeply grateful.
Brooklyn and Lincoln are now attending a local school that blends classroom learning and homeschooling as the norm, and we are actively seeking and picking up work as we can. Trevor’s professorial skills in graphic design and web design are top-notch, but the marketplace is crowded. We are working on a few small projects, but if you have a business, church, ministry or hobby that could use some custom graphics or visual/content refreshing, we’d be so grateful for the chance to provide a consultation and/or quote.
We don’t know what else the Lord has ahead for us in this new season - whether we’ll be involved in any aspect of vocational ministry as we've done for so many years or if we’ll simply carry on living for Him, serving Him and sharing Him aside from formal ministry. Either way, we’re trusting Him with the outcome… it’s all we know to do. Our hearts still ache as we grieve the sudden change and miss our Cornish life and family. But we have also seen God's favour and blessing and being here with/near our family is truly wonderful.
Meanwhile, there’s fantastic news on the UK ministry front. In answer to prayer, God has indeed stirred the hearts of several people from Souls Harbour Church to take on the Grow Centre project so it can remain open to be a light and provide hope and practical support to the many in need in the Camelford area. It makes our hearts so joyful to know this still-young “seedling” of outreach will continue to be watered, cultivated and grown into whatever God wants it to be for that community.
We are also excited to help enable this by continuing to accept tax-deductible donations to UK for Jesus to help fund the Grow Centre, along with other UK missionaries and ministry projects. So, if you are willing and able to keep giving beyond our transition period, know that your giving will continue reaching the UK for Jesus. On that note, we will soon tackle the UKFJ website overhaul to shift focus to the continuing projects and people our nonprofit organization will be helping raise funds for. Should you feel that you'd also like to give toward helping our family get reestablished, just let us know.
We also want to acknowledge and thank several others from Souls Harbour who have stepped in to take over various other tasks and activities that we were responsible for. They (and we!) thought they were just temporarily "filling in" while we had our Christmas holiday, but instead they've inherited the responsibilities indefinitely! We can only express our sincerest thanks to everyone who's jumped in so selflessly to help keep things going.
We are also so incredibly grateful to all of you for your prayers, words of encouragement, generosity and continued support as we navigate this unusual transition. Blessings to you all!
In Him and with sincere gratitude,
Trevor, Connie, Brooklyn & Lincoln
Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take."
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