It's A Boy!

On Tuesday, I went for my 20 week scan (can you believe I am already halfway through the pregnancy?). Sean and I had been anticipating this visit so we could find out if we were having a boy or a girl. Well, the nurses confirmed that Hudson Carter Stepleton will be the first addition to our growing family! It was such a joyous visit. We loved seeing our son on the ultra sound screen – and boy did he put on a show! We saw him turn and hide from the scan, he put his hands up by his face, he stretched his legs, he waved his hands, and he even opened his mouth wide! At one point, the nurse had frozen the screen on a picture of his face. Sean couldn’t believe the detail we could already see on our sons face – including the fact that he has mom’s cheeks! In addition to seeing our son, we were blessed to find out that all is healthy and well and he is developing just fine. As Sean and I left the hospital, we were grinning ear to ear. Each step of this pregnancy seems to add more and more joy to our lives – we can’t even begin to imagine what it will be like when we are actually face to face with our precious Hudson. Thank you for all of your prayers and encouraging emails as we have been celebrating the news of our baby! You have all been so supportive.

[P!] Please continue to pray for health for Hudson and grace for mom as I deal with the aches and pains of being pregnant.


:: MORE LESSONS THROUGH PREGNANCY
As we mentioned in our previous update, we have been lovingly referring to our baby as Peanut. But now that we know that Peanut is a boy, we are thrilled to call our son Hudson. We have had this name picked out for about 3 years! When you first start trying to have a family, picking out baby names can be so much fun (so is the trying of course!). One day I remember asking Sean what he thought of Hudson Carter – Hudson after a great English missionary to China and Carter as Sean’s mom’s maiden name. He thought about it and he said he really liked it. So since then, we would refer to our future child as Hudson. So when we found out we were having a boy, it seemed to make sense! We had been calling Hudson by name years before he was conceived!

And as we are now addressing my belly as Hudson, I couldn’t help but remember that the Bible makes mention of our Heavenly Father calling us by name. In Isaiah 49:1 it says “Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations: Before I was born the LORD called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name.” Again in Jeremiah 1: 5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." What a special thought to know that just as we are anticipating Hudson’s arrival, speaking blessings over him, and calling him by name – God has done the same with us.


:: HOLMSTED MANOR UPDATE
Well, our staff continues to shrink, but we continue to move forward. We’ve already said bye to two former staff members earlier this month and just this week another 3 will be leaving. This type of ministry work can be tough as it is very transitional. But even in the midst of saying goodbyes, God has been providing some hellos. A family has recently been accepted on staff and will be joining us in July. Nic is from America, Marion is from England, they have two girls, and they have spent the last 5 years working with YWAM in Hungary. A great God story with this family is that one of our staff members that has now left, Jon, was running a program called the School of Worship. (Sean helped lead this program last September.) Before Jon left, he tried finding a replacement so that the program wouldn’t have to stop running, but to no avail. Out of the blue, Nic (who has only briefly met Jon once) called Jon and asked if he could come and help assist with the School of Worship at Holmsted. He and his wife want to integrate their girls into the English school system. Jon then proceeded to invite him to not just assist the school but to run it. So now, we have another facilitator for the School of Worship – praise God! It’s been an encouragement to know that no matter how many staff members God calls away from Holmsted during this season, He will continue to send us exactly what we need – and in ways we’re not expecting!

[P!] Please continue to pray that God would send us the right base leader. We are still without for the time being. We have been able to still function thus far, but we are beginning to realize the need for a base leader to guide and cast vision. We have one candidate who is only just considering the possibility and has not fully put their name forward. They are from outside of our Holmsted community.

God has also provided two school leaders for our September 2009 DTS – a couple from Holland named Peter and Inge. During this transitional season, Peter and Inge felt pretty strongly like their commitment to Holmsted was coming to an end and they had about 3 or 4 options of next steps to take. They had been pretty vocal about wanting to move on, so initially, we didn’t want to approach them. But Sean was challenged to take a chance and ask them to consider. What we didn’t know was that they had been praying and said if they were supposed to stay, they wanted God to send someone to ask them about leading the school. Needless to say, Sean asked, they accepted, and have had great joy in planning the school. We already have 12 students in process to attend in September.

[P!] Please pray that God would continue to raise up support staff for this school. At the moment, it is just Peter and Inge.

Our current January DTS is still on outreach and have all received a pastoral visit. This is a time where a member of the Holmsted staff will visit the teams on the field and bring any mail, cards, or chocolate to the team along with a fresh perspective to gauge where the team seems to be thriving and where they need to be challenged. Sean had a chance to visit a team in Berlin and here is what he has to share about his experience…

“I was able to go and spend some time with one of our teams that has been serving in Europe. They sailed with the crew of the Next Wave (a sail boat that YWAM owns and uses for ministry) and served in Bulgaria and are now serving in Berlin, which is where I met up with them. The team was doing quite well and stepping up to some very challenging things. It was a real joy to spend one on one time with them as individuals and to hear their heart for God and the work they were doing. I was pulled right into the things they were involved in and God gave me insight on how to challenge them more. What I recognized was the team is primarily made up of introverted people (not at all a struggle for me to understand as I am quite the introvert myself) and the things they were involved in were very outward in nature… And they gave their all… Inspiring! They were performing dramas in the middle of large plazas, serving tea and coffee to people on the streets, and inviting people to a family style dinner at a café that was run by one of the partners of the contacts we have in Berlin.

Throughout my trip, I found myself challenged in all the same ways in which I was challenging the team - especially as I was on my way back home. On the way home my flight was delayed from 2pm until 7pm. They offered me a free flight transfer, but I would be flying into Luton Airport instead of Gatwick which is about 2 and a half hours further away. Well, I went for it… after all, I would still be getting in earlier than if I waited and I had never seen Luton Airport before. All along my journey home, I had some all too familiar “nudges” from God to step up and talk with people. I met a nice guy from the States who was trying not to miss a Clapton concert in London that evening. I met a really lovely couple that sat next to me on the plane – he was from England and she was from Tel Aviv. They were professional musicians living in Berlin. I helped two American girls who had come to Germany to study German history. I was able to point them in the right direction, as they seemed a little overwhelmed with finding their way. It was a blessing to be able to help them. Lastly I talked with two ladies who had been on a French tour group and as we talked, I figured out that they had met the grandmother of the curate (sort of a pastor in training) of our church. I was able to tell them all about Sarah, myself, and the ministries we were involved in. I even invited them to come by!

Through the whole experience, I felt a fresh courage to love people right where they are and make the most of every opportunity! (2 Timothy 4:2)”


:: THE POINT
As we have mentioned before, Sean and I have been asked to help pioneer a young adults service for 20’s/30’s. Recently we were a part of a 6 week training to help us define how we want to connect and engage this age group. Sean and I have been serving with another couple named Andy and Rachel and it has been great to see how God has brought us two couples together and given us similar vision for the group. We came up with the following mission statement: “Connecting young adults in their faith; encouraging action; and developing inner transformation for outward change.” We feel like this age group can so quickly be bored with faith if they are simply approaching it with a consumer mindset. We want our community to be an active community – hence our official name: ...ING. We want our community to be growING, worshippING, prayING, sharING, laughING, askING, encouragING, servING. As we begin to get to know each other and share our personal journeys and stories, we believe these actions will become a natural result. We plan on meeting weekly, but through the summer we are having connecting events. We had a BBQ a few weeks ago and we’ll be meeting again for a dessert night next week.
[P!] Please pray that God will continue to grow our relationship with our co-leaders Andy and Rachel and that our group will begin to catch the vision of our mission statement.


:: OTHER CELEBRATIONS
We have a new flat! Since our old base leader left at the end of March, his 2 bedroom flat has been sitting unoccupied. The flat was finally made available to apply for, so Sean and I did. We were given permission a few weeks ago to move in and we have been loving it! We have our own kitchen, a washing machine, a living room and 2 bedrooms! We can’t wait to start decorating Hudson’s very own room – we are going with a safari theme. We have already enjoyed having others over for meals and we realized with our previous accommodation (one room), our gift of hospitality wasn’t able to be nurtured. It’s such a joy to be able to use a gift that God has blessed us with. And although we knew it was time for some more space with the baby coming, we have learned what we can live without for a season. Our one room was home for us for a year and a half. Our time in our one room has allowed us to have a deeper sense of appreciation for the extra space that we have been given.


That about sums up the Stepletons for now. Please remember our prayer points listed above. We love you, miss you, and count down the days until our visit in November.

Cheers!
Sarah and Sean and Hudson!

We're Having a Baby!

After 3 ½ years of waiting, God has blessed us with a child. We are currently 12 weeks (every Saturday marks another week along) which makes our due date October 10. When we initially found out, we thought we were much further along. I went in for my 12 week scan and found out that I was only 9 weeks along! In some ways, I have definitely felt pregnant – using the toilet a lot, changing appetite, some nausea. But in other ways, it is still hard to believe that there is a little life inside of me. It made it more real to see the shape of the baby on the scan – even though it was only 27 mm long! Since we won’t be able to tell the gender of the baby until my next scan (I think 22 weeks), we have been lovingly referring to our child as Peanut.

When you see others with their newborn children or even their toddlers, you get a bit of an understanding of how lovable children can be. We have always anticipated there would be great love for our child when it was born. What we didn’t anticipate was the love God would fill us with in just knowing that we are expecting. Sean loves talking and listening to my belly (even though all he can hear right now is my stomach churning). We have also started a journal for Peanut where we record anything we feel is significant during this pregnancy. We’ve shared about people’s reactions to our news, we’ve shared about our doctor’s visits, and we’ve shared about gifts that Peanut has already received. We want our baby to be overwhelmed with love even before they can understand they are being loved.

Once we found out we were pregnant, we realized how easy it would be to let fear rob us of the joy of this pregnancy because there is so much out of your control. But I remembered something my friend Darla said once – she said that God is the giver and taker of life. He determines our days. And after Sean and I talked and prayed, we both decided that we will not be ruled by fear. Whether we have this baby for a short season or for the rest of our lives, God has chosen us to be the stewards of this child’s life and we take it as a great honor. We are making sure that we do our part to keep me and the baby healthy, and we are trusting God with the rest.

We will continue to keep you updated as our pregnancy progresses.


:: LESSONS THROUGH PREGNANCY
It’s amazing how God can become more real to you in the midst of having a child. Just the other day, Sean was talking to my belly and telling Peanut not to worry because they were not alone, that me and him were right here waiting for them to be born. Then Sean just spoke words of love over the baby. In that moment it made me think of our relationship with God. And I thought about Peanut and how Peanut will probably never be any more close to me then they are right now growing inside of me and depending on me for nutrition. Technically, in my womb, Peanut is alone. But Peanut is also fully surrounded by me. Everywhere I go, Peanut goes too. How many times do we feel so far and alone from God? But if we believe his word to be true, then He says that he is omnipresent and that he will never leave us nor forsake us. What a promise!


:: HOLMSTED MANOR UPDATE
Holmsted Manor is a missions training base and so we are always transitioning one school in and one school out. We had a graduation ceremony for our September 2008 DTS in February. This school served in 2 nations – India and Poland. As that school was transitioning out, we already had our January 2009 DTS underway. They are just finishing their Lecture Phase and they are preparing for Outreach Phase where they will be split into 3 teams to serve in Uganda, India, and parts of Europe. There are 22 students on this school – one of whom includes a former youth group student named Kayla McGill. We’ve known her since she was a freshman in high school and now she has graduated college and is taking time to serve in a missions context with us – how cool!

We typically run an April DTS as well, but we had to cancel as we didn’t have enough students interested. We are also limited now on how late we can accept students. We previously could accept students up to a few weeks before a DTS started. But now that all non European students are required to obtain a visa, we have to make sure our students are accepted with enough time to apply for one.

As our schools are a source of income for our base, it was a bit of a financial blow to cancel the school. However, with a huge season of change before us, we also see this extra time without the school running to be a chance to refocus as a team. As we mentioned in our last update, our base leaders were called back to The States and we started the process of trying to recruit new base leaders. Sean and I had even put our names forward for consideration. Well, long story short, the other 2 candidates withdrew their names and Sean and I were not selected but not completely denied the position either. We were told that we were seen as great candidates but there were concerns with our limited time and experience within YWAM. We were asked to consider taking a 6-week YWAM Leadership Development Course in Malaga, Spain. At this time, we did not yet know we were pregnant but we were praying about the possibility of going. We asked a few others to pray with us as well. In the end (and after discovering Peanut was on the way) we decided that we would not take the Leadership Development Course. Although the course sounded great, we didn’t feel it was the right time to leave. We want to be around for all of my doctor’s appointments but we also want to be around to help influence the new direction of Holmsted.

The most difficult thing right now is that we have a majority of our current staff who are planning on leaving between now and September. We are currently at about 32 staff members and by the end of the summer we will be down to 15 with half of these staff members undecided on whether or not they are continuing at Holmsted. That is a drastic change for our community because it takes a full staff to not only run our DTSs but to also maintain the Manor and our 17 acres of property! So as I mentioned before, this summer will be a great time for us to refocus and lean into God for direction. As far as Sean and I, we are planning on making ourselves available for the next few years to help bring some stability to this transitional season. Please keep our base in prayer during this time. We don’t feel hopeless but we realize there is soon to be a huge burden laid upon just a handful of people.


:: THE POINT
The Point is our current home church here in England. We have really enjoyed serving at the local church level. It allows us to engage and interact with the locals of England. Sean and I have been asked by the local Vicar (pastor) to be a part of a leadership team that creates a satellite service/meeting for those that are in their 20’s/30’s. It’s the Vicar’s desire to break down the congregation into smaller sizes and affinity groups to make sure that people are still known and being discipled. The church is considered a larger church in England at is currently at about 400 members after 4 years. Sean and I are especially excited to serve with the Point because they are similar to Canyon Ridge in the fact that they are not just concerned with growing inwards but they want their members to engage their communities. We are excited to see how God will use us at the local church level to impact England and even Europe. Feel free to learn more about the church by visiting http://www.thepointchurch.co.uk/.


:: OTHER CELEBRATIONS
At the beginning of February, we were thrilled to visit with our friends D & D now living in India. We loved sharing stories, hearing of the cultural difficulties they have encountered, and how God is using their everyday living to be an example to the community around them. We had late night talks, went out to eat, interacted with the kids, explored Holland, and thoroughly enjoyed our fellowship together.

Then, towards the end of February, we celebrated a most special day...Sean's 34th birthday! We celebrated by having one of his favorite meals that he hadn't had in over a year - Sushi! I even enjoyed a few cucumber rolls. We also had some dessert at a restaurant near the ocean in Brighton. It was a lovely evening. He was also bombarded with email and Facebook messages, cards, and even a "musical tshirt" he received in the mail from my sister Deborah. It's a tshirt with a speaker and a little device that allows you to play different theme songs. It's pretty funny! He was feeling the love all around.


:: PRAYER POINTS
We realized that we are not always good at sharing our needs. We not only want to engage with you by updating, but we would love to ask you to partner with us in prayer.
Here are a few prayer points we have:
1. Pray that God would unify Holmsted during this season of transition; that things that need to change will change; new structures that need to be implemented will be implemented; and things that need to remain will remain.
2. Pray that God would be clearly speaking to the staff that are undecided on whether to stay or go
3. Pray that God will soon reveal our next base leaders
4. Pray for continued healthy pregnancy
5. Pray for the development of our 20’s/30’s group


Thank you for sharing in our burdens, our stories, and our celebrations. As always, we love hearing your updates and any feedback you may have. Blessings to you all.

Cheers!
Sarah and Sean

Welcome to 2009!

Happy New Year! It's hard to believe that we are now in our second year of our commitment to Holmsted. We officially celebrated our year anniversary in England on November 14. Through most of this year, we have kept you updated on our adventures across the pond. We have a bit of catching up to do, so here is what we have recently been up to!
(Note: If you click the attached pictures it will either enlarge if there is a single picture or bring you to an album if there are multiple photos.)


:: OCTOBER
October was a special month as we had a team from Canyon Ridge bless us with a visit as well as some manual labor! A team of 8 - led by Garett and Jenny Fay - came to encourage Sean and I as well as bless our Holmsted Community by beginning a conversion project. They tore apart an old guys bathroom to convert it into a bedroom/bathroom suite. They worked hard and were able to get a good start on the project. Since then, we've had a few Holmsted staff members that have been able to put some time into it. It was such a blessing to catch up with some old friends and meet some new ones. Having the team here allowed us to feel connected and a part of the Canyon Ridge family. And of course they came bearing gifts! We had cards, we had candy, Oreos, ranch dressing and even artwork that was sent to us. It was Christmas in October. Thank you to everyone who contributed!


:: NOVEMBER
In November, Sean and I went to the YWAM DNA Conference. This was a chance to hear from the founder of YWAM - Loren Cunningham - and his heart behind starting the organization. YWAM was founded in 1960 and is still growing! Throughout the course of the week, we learned that pioneering is the heartbeat behind YWAM. We heard story after story about God's faithfulness as young people have stepped out in new and creative ways to bring the gospel to the world. However, in the midst of celebrating the sense of pioneering, Sean and I began questioning our place with YWAM. Pioneers attract pioneers. And we have learned that the nature of a pioneer is to always be moving on to the next thing. A pioneer can also have a tendency to prefer the chaos of "the new" over the stability of "the familiar." Knowing that we are very much structural and pastoral people looking to create longevity in ministry, we felt like maybe we had stepped into the wrong organization. But as we processed our doubts and frustrations with long-time YWAMers, we were able to come to the conclusion that a pioneering ministry like YWAM is definitely in need of structural, pastoral types like Sean and I. Oh yeah..Sean and I were also asked to help lead worship for the event. It was a blessing to be able to serve musically and to get to know some other YWAMers from Colorado.

I also celebrated my 29 birthday on November 7. Sean is dying for me to hit 30 so we can finally be in the same decade again! I'm looking forward to celebrating the big 3-0 Stateside this year.

Sean and I have also enjoyed our involvement at our local church - The Point. We have been on the worship rota about once a month. Our most recent ministry we've been involved with has been a Young Adults ministry. We are a part of a core group that is helping to develop the ministry. We have also been asked to consider a more active role as leaders with this group which is exciting for us as we feel God has called us to England to partner and support the local churches of England!


:: DECEMBER

From September through December, Sean helped to lead the School of Worship here at Holmsted. Following the school, there was a group of 9 (including Sean and myself) who went on a 10-day mission trip to Spain (December 12-22). We had a great team and enjoyed our time. It was quite easy adjusting to the Spanish way of life - late morning starts and siestas after lunch! Although we had translators for this trip, it was fun using the Spanish that I remembered from high school and from my parents who are both fluent. I was surprised how well I was able to communicate with the Spanish that I have retained over the years. While there, we were able to work with 3 different churches in Spain. At each church we played some Christmas carols and some worship songs. I think we surprised the locals as the team had learned a few worship songs in Spanish! We also worked with a Christian television station and were able to record original songs, some Christmas songs, and our personal testimonies. A few (including Sean) were able to give a teaching on concepts of worship. The recordings will be used at a later date and broadcast on Spanish and South American television. We also did a lot of sharing in public squares. We would play music and we would pray for the local areas. We also had one night where we did street evangelism. Sean and a few others shared their personal testimonies of how God has impacted their lives and it was translated into Spanish. Several people would stop to listen and a few stayed and asked questions.

After returning from our trip to Spain, Sean had one thing on his mind...getting our car registered! Several months back, Sean and I were given a car. Unfortunately, until one of us had a British license, we were unable to register the car or get insurance. So 3 driving lessons, a written test, and a driving test later; Sean now has an official British driver's license! Sean was told that the driving test is quite rigorous and that it is common for Brits to have to take the driving test a few times before they pass. Sean passed on attempt number one! It's been a lengthy and expensive process, but we now have our own car.

Once we had our wheels, that meant we were able to spend the day out and about doing some Christmas shopping! We did our shopping on December 23...and we gave each other our presents the same day. You thought kids were bad! We just figured we didn't need to spend the extra money on wrapping paper. We had a fun night and on Christmas day, Sean played at a Christmas service. We then came home and he made a very non-traditional Mexican style roasted pork with rice. It was delicious!

All throughout December we had been receiving Christmas cards, and each one has been a blessing to us. We have especially loved the picture cards and the newsletters. It helps us to feel connected to those that we are unable to be within proximity of. We were really caught off guard when we received quite a heavy package in the mail. We saw that is was from Canyon Ridge and that they had Brought The Love! We had a TON of cards from people we know and people we don't know, all encouraging us that we were being prayed for. Especially as we have been missing home, it felt like such a cool gift to receive in the mail. We were not expecting anything like that and it came at just the right time! It was hard to read each card with dry eyes.


:: ON THE HORIZON
As we are moving forward in 2009, there are already a few exciting things to look forward to. One of them being a short trip to Holland that we will be taking to see our friends D & D that are now living in India. This couple has been a catalyst in our lives as we have chosen to become involved with missions. They are very dear to us and it will be great to catch up with them and their family at the end of this month.

A huge change that is swiftly approaching is yet another leadership change for Holmsted. The current base leader and his wife will be stepping down within the next few months as they feel God is directing them back to the States. There are a combination of reasons that have pointed them in this direction and we are excited for this new season approaching for them. But what that means is that Holmsted is searching for a new set of leaders again. Since we have been at Holmsted, we have been in a state of transition with leadership. Sean and I have been feeling like this is a season where we can help bring some consistency and stability to the base by making ourselves available to continue serving at Holmsted for a longer season than the 2 year comitment we have already agreed to. We have also decided to put our names forward for consideration as the next base leaders. There are some great candidates to choose from at Holmsted and so the next few weeks will consist of narrowing down the right person. We would love your prayers in this area. If we do become the next base leaders, we will have some big shoes to fill. If we don't become base leaders, we want to find the right roles at Holmsted that will best use our gifts as we settle in to a longer-term commitment.

Thanks for bearing with us as we get you up to speed on a newsletter that has been long overdue. Hope the pictures add a little bit of life to the text! We love you guys tons and feel so cared for by all of you in different ways. It has been through prayers, cards, emails, phone calls, Facebook comments, and even personal visits that we have been able to press on with the work God has called us to in England. It is with celebration and excitement that we are able to say goodbye to 2008 and continue trekking into 2009! God is good and He is faithful!

Cheers!
Sarah and Sean