Hello dear friends and family.
(FYI, some photos at the end…)
Time is flying by. It’s hard to believe that 5 months have passed since we started tracking the outbreak and the implication of Coronavirus in Asia for all of our YWAM schools, ministry travel for Spring and Summer. Not only that, the kids went to online schooling, and Samuel graduated High School, and has since started college online!
Life in the Discipleship Department
Late January we were relocating teams around Asia and Europe, examining travel routes, and setting up protocols for teams returning to Montana. Early in February and March we were changing destinations for outgoing schools (multiple times) and ultimately, cancelling outreaches and upcoming schools. The Spring DTS had to be canceled, and our leadership school DTS Equip was also pushed to next year. Late May we cancelled our Summer schools also.
While all that was happening, we have been expanding our regular campus routine into more local community outreaches, expanded online ministry, and more local training and development of staff. This has proven to be a special “hidden” blessing for us as a campus. With our regular routine of non-stop training, sending and receiving teams back, we would never be able to effectively shut down our campus to incoming students and focus purely on staff development and community outreach. I (Jer) have been able to host different training seminars for our entire Discipleship department, as well as prepare for a large influx of new staff come July. In all, we are expecting 18 new staff to arrive this Fall; an amazing and encouraging development for us.
In terms of travel and teaching, after two trips in January and February, we have been effectively grounded. But, not idle. I have been able to teach via Zoom to DTS leaders and staff all over the country simultaneously in single sessions, plus teaching staff groups in Spain, Cambodia, Netherlands, and even preaching in a church in another state. We have been to an online wedding, and I am even performing one next month! Fun times.
Family life
The kids did really well transitioning so abruptly to online learning. While the boys didn’t enjoy it as much, Eden was in heaven. She loved it! She loved going to school, but being able to set up her own school schedule, work place, and being able to hang out all day with mum and dad (we were also working from home).
Samuel’s high school graduation was a highlight for us, and for him. Although so many seem to be struggling with the inability to graduate as usual, we were able to have an outside, distanced, graduation. While Sam really missed all of the social events leading up to it in his Senior year, he was quite happy to graduate with less fuss than normal 🙂
Since school’s end then kids have been working and socializing as much as able. Summer is just getting into full swing over here. Thanks for following along, staying in touch, and supporting us in all the ways all of our “team members” do.
Love and blessings on your family too!
Jeremy, Molly, Samuel, Joel and Eden.
In brief: Back from Christmas and New Years in Australia; a very full January quarter on campus, sending and graduating students; developing and moving the campus ministry forward; and, the upcoming Spring quarter looms.
As many of you know, in early December the Montana Wests headed Down Under for a huge West family reunion. With my Mum turning 80, her dream gift was a time of was bringing her 5 children and all the families together for one huge gathering around Christmastime and New Year. We did it: Wests from Wollongong, Sydney and Brisbane, more from Hawaii, and of course Montana, all converged on a massive property for 6 days together. So much fun. And yes, we finally got all of the perfect family combination photos for “Nana”. Well worth it. Our kids had not been back since my Dad was ill with cancer 10 years ago, so this time was one of reviving old memories, and making new ones. On a more selfish personal note, Molly and I were just so happy for warm weather during the cold winter over here. Back to Montana reality, we returned mid-January to cold, but beautiful “Big Sky Country” Montana. We hit the ground running and haven’t stopped.
On the work front, we have been putting students through our programs, sending them out, receiving them back again, and preparing for the next schools to arrive. This week we welcomed back 65 in the DTS program from their outreaches in Greece, Thailand, Cambodia, Ukraine, and Taiwan.
The family is well, reentering school well and adjusting to the (very) cold winter this year. We love to hear from you too, and always welcome visitors here in Montana, ‘The last best place”, as they say up here. Love, and blessings and thanks to you all,
GoWests! 