GoWests!

Finally, as a family we were able to do another trip to Cambodia.  With Samuel in his final year of high school, who knows if we will be able to do that again.  It’s both astonishing and fulfilling to see the huge changes in Cambodia over the years.  What started for us in 2002 with several staff visiting back and forth, then taking teams, and then eventually moving there to pioneer life-changing (and city-changing!) works in Battambang, has since grown to a YWAM campus, churches planted, a local business, sports ministries, a preschool/elementary school, and school classes for the youth of the city, serving literally hundreds of people every day.

This trip was a short 2-week, but as always very full.  As a family we joined medical work going on in a village located on a city dump, helping in a local YWAM-run cafe, work projects at the campus, helping with kids and more.  As a couple Molly and I were key speakers at a week-long leadership training seminar.  YWAM training staff and leaders traveled from various campuses in the country to be with us for the week.  Some of those involved we first met when they were just teenagers, single, and new to Christianity. Now, so many are married, with kids, leading whole schools, ministries and campuses themselves. But, perhaps the most rewarding for us was hearing them refer to us as “elders to their mission” there.  In reality, while we have contributed the little we could over the years, it is our privilege to say we have worked with them.  These are the true heroes of the faith to us.

Below is a quick time-lapse video of the “Bamboo Train”; a low, short “train” made of bamboo and steel. Followed by some photos of “before” (2008/9) and now (2019).

Eden at home it the heat

Reminders of a recent past. Uncovered in our backyard.

Jan 2009, Battambang Cambodia

Nov 2019, Battambang Cambodia

Hi everyone.

We are here!  After a LONG but easy trip we are now in Battambang Cambodia. We will send out some more photos and updates in the days to come.  But for now, here is a very quick video blog of our journey…

Go Wests!

“The most important thing about us is what comes to mind when we think about God.”  (A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy, 1961)

Hi everyone.

I recently preached a message at church entitled “Don’t lose your wonder”.  It comes from a piece of my own journey over the last few years, and which I remind myself of every now and then, as well as others when I suspect that perhaps they too, have lost sight of who God is; not only in their own life, but of His majesty in general.

Trouble ultimately ensues when we reduce Jesus to a philosophy, or even some god-like-worker somehow involved within our lives.  Do I still relate to Him the way I once did?  Is that enough? Have I regressed? Have I simply become accustomed to Jesus as one “type” of god, limited to a single event, and now a single purpose?

Have you become bored with Jesus, or simply disillusioned with your idea of God?  Have you lost your wonder in an infinite, perfect, God?

I have included the video link below.  Listen in if you like!

JW

Hi all.

Here’s a 5-min video tour of a bunch of places on our campus as we go about a “regular” day.

Thanks for supporting and following us.  Constantly busy, never stationary for long, always grateful.  Thanks to the team!

JW

Hello everyone.

Check out our latest video update:

• Back from Australia
• Jeremy just in Texas
• DTS update: outreach teams back, Refugees, Ending Bible Poverty, and new schools starting
• Family update
• God is moving on our campus

Thanks everyone!  Love from the mountains

Jeremy and Molly

February, 2019.

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.

Greetings from snowy Montana.  It’s hard to believe that three months have elapsed since our last update.  Happy thanksgiving!  Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! And, Happy Australia Day for my folk =).   The arrival of 2019 saw a very full finish to 2018, and a wonderful start to our next season of family, and ministry busy-ness.

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.

I (Jer) continue to teach students, as well as develop staff and train our school leaders.  I’m also still traveling and teaching in other schools around the place (watch for another roving-update very soon!). Molly is living an extremely full life at work as the assistant to the Campus Directors.  From frantically organizing life from her desk, to participating in meetings (from strategic-departmental to Corporate Board) she does an outstanding job of helping so many to do their work well, and making so much of our campus life and ministry successful.  In the next couple of months, more DTS students will arrive, as well as our DTS EQUIP students; leaders and staff from various YWAM ministries around the world. But we can talk more about that later.

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,

Jeremy & Molly

Here are a few photos of our time in Australia, including one of the view from our airplane window about to land in Montana: a shock to the system.

Hi everyone.

I just wrote a short blog for the campus here in Montana.  It originated in a request from a younger leader in Taiwan who was an Equip student of mine.  He was asking for some practical advice on reading and retention/application.  Maybe you can relate?

F-Y-Interest…

JW

https://ywammontana.org/making_your_reading_count_when_you_dont_read_enough/