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Another turn of events = another update.

With this one I hope to shed some light on some of the recent events of my life (Which I guess is the purpose of all the updates I write…). First, a bit of back story and context for anyone new here (feel free to read through old posts to get more information that what I will provide).

I went into my SONS (School Of Navigation and Seamanship) onboard the Next Wave with the offer up to God to give the next couple years to missions and serving on some of the YWAM vessels. From there I joined the DTS sail in late August for 3 1/2 weeks. That time was specifically cut short, as the Next Wave is permanently docked for the winter, and a large amount of crew are not needed onboard during those months.

During those couple weeks, myself and fellow crew member Dane were informed of some ships in Fiji with the focus on reaching the small inhabited islands of Fiji to do ministry. With confirmation from God that this was a where we were to go, we arrived in Fiji during the last week of September. Then I had a short update posted 3 weeks into my time there, so if you want a bit more context, feel free to read that one!

With that recap complete, lets move on.

Our time in Fiji was cut short sooner than what we had planned. As I stated in my previous writings, the crew onboard consisted of myself and then Dane who was taking over as captain. Unfortunately, Dane’s family at home was having some pretty bad health issues. After a lot of prayer and asking God what we were supposed to do, we felt like it was time to go home. And without a captain, there is little that I could do but continue looking after the boats on my own.

This time in Fiji was the first connection between the ministries of the Next Wave in Greece and Yachts for Life in Fiji, pairing the training of missions sailors to missions work that is needing those sailors. Though it was not what we went into expecting it to be, we are trusting we completed what God had us there to do during those 6 weeks. We made connections with the teams doing the work in the islands, getting some understanding of Fiji as a country and the ministries going on, and got a feel for some of the sailing to be had there.

My focus now being home is the building of my church community. My last 2 years has not included much time in the church due to having to work many Sundays, and then being in and out of the country for the last 8/9 months. So at this point I shall get the spend the winter in beautiful BC, enjoy some beautiful winter diving/free diving, spend some time on the mountain slopes, and hopefully continue some outdoor explorations (this added to encourage anyone else to join in the outdoor fun and not spend winter sitting on our backsides) then plan to return to the Next Wave in Greece from April to the end of June as crew for the DTS and SONS schools and they sail around Greece and Turkey.

Prayer requests!

Well there are always things:

Pray for some clear direction. I for sure have a passion for BC. Most things about this place I love, there are some things that can be frustrating (traffic), but small in comparison to all the things that we are blessed with those who live here. My offer to give 2 years to serving was not something God asked of me, but I gave up. So far that has not been how things have worked out or where God called me, so one of my questions is if this is to be a seasonal thing for a while, where I go and serve in seasons, then have Surrey be home base. I dunno.

Pray for a good job. Since I will be home, I will get very restless doing nothing, so I will obviously start work. So a good paying full time job would be lovely, especially since I have had a lot of flights in the last 3 months and still have to pay off some of them.

Is life not an exciting thing? Who knows where we will all be next. Thank you to all of have been following and supporting me, and continue to do so.

Until next time,

Joshua