We've Graduated!

Well, there was no Pomp and Circumstance played, but we have officially graduated our Discipleship Training School. The past 6 months has been emotional but rewarding...challenging but growing...sacrificial but well worth it! Let me bring you up to speed on this last leg of our journey.

:: PROCESSING POLAND
If I could summarize our time in Poland with one word, it would have to be perseverance. We persevered through a lot. We persevered through a busy schedule, through a difficult language barrier, through lack of privacy, through intense hayfever (allergies), through team conflict, and through unmet expectations. But when you persevere for the sake of God's glory, He leaves you with no regrets. As a team, we had to learn to trust God's promises in a new way. We had to ask ourselves if we trusted God to still be faithful even if we didn't see fruit from our labor or his promises fulfilled in our lifetime. We needed to trust that we were doing the work that He called us to and that was all He was asking of us...our obedience. God is responsible for bringing forth the fruit. It was very humbling to remember that God has a plan for the entirety of the world that is so much bigger than me, and the fact that He uses us to partner with him is such a privilege. Our team read through Hebrews 11, the "faith" chapter. It lists through a ton of heroes from the bible and what they stepped out to do in faith. And after everyone is commended for their faith, we hit verse 39 which says "These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised." They all used their lives to commit to something bigger than themselves and trusted God's promises to be true because He said they were true and not because of what could be seen. That is the kind of faith Sean and I want to continue to strive for.

We ended our time in Poland in a cute town called Pszczyna. We spent a few days processing as a team and simply relaxing. Sean and I also spent an anniversary here. We celebrated 9 years with steak and a glass of wine. It was lovely. I feel like we had a God moment over dinner because we were both reflecting on the ups and downs our marriage has had and we were talking about how good God has been to us and then we recognized the song that was playing. In this little Polish restaurant in this little town Pszczyna, they started playing a worship song called "More Than Enough." The song talks about how God can satisfy our every need and that He is more than enough. We both were teary-eyed as we felt God in our conversation through that song.

I believe we left Poland feeling stronger in our relationship with God, stronger in our relationship with each other, and with an appreciation for the beauty in the Polish culture. Polish people are so lovely and a great example of what it means to truly value people. They are great listeners, talkers, and are always willing to go the extra TWO miles for you! I will miss this country and the friendships we made there.

:: HOLMSTED SWEET HOLMSTED
After returning from Poland, we had a week left of school at Holmsted Manor. This last week is intended to process our experience, talk through unresolved relational conflicts (if any), talk through unmet expectations, and process what it will be like to return home. It was good to be reminded that over the last 6 months, we have changed, and our family and friends have probably changed a bit as well. We were challenged to be careful on how we share our learnings and experiences. Just as much as we want to be good at sharing the things that God has done in our lives, we need to be good listeners to hear what God has been doing in the lives of our loved ones.

On one of the last days that we were debriefing, our school leader Daniel said that he had a surprise for us. At first we all thought it was food, but then he said it was a special guest. We thought it might have been one of the students in our class that left the school early or Sean thought it might be a famous worship leader named Matt Redman who lives in the area. But we were shocked and emotionally unprepared for this surprise...it was our leader Kateen who had lost her leg a few months ago. She was determined to make it back for our graduation and flew all the way back to England from Washington State by herself. WE CRIED! She has been such an inspiration to our class. She has shown us what it means to trust God in every circumstance in life. And she looks amazing! She looks so healthy and she is currently getting around on crutches. She was hoping to have a prosthetic by now but it has taken a little longer than she planned. She is also hoping to come back and lead another school! After the shock had settled, Sean leaned over to me and said "Real life is so much cooler than any movie."

::WHAT'S NEXT?
Well, most of our class has already headed home so we have had a few teary goodbyes. On Wednesday, Sean and I will be heading up to Liverpool to spend time with the base leader up there. It sounds like it will be a good time! We will get to stay on a boat for a few days and off of Strawberry Fields...yes, we'll be in Beatle's Country for 5 days. We were praying that God would have better clarity for us on what our next step should be following the completion of our DTS. And we both feel we have a clear next step...Sean and I will be staffing the next January DTS which means we will be returning to England in the fall. We are really looking forward to this next season of ministry!

I hope this update finds you all well, and I hope you are preparing to update us with the life stories that have been molding you over the past 6 months. We can't express enough gratitude for the support that each of you has been to us. We have been encouraged by e-mails, through phone calls, care packages, finances, letters, and prayers. We hope that God will continue to bless each of you abundantly as you have abundantly blessed us. We'll see you very soon!

Cheers!
Sarah and Sean