As we began our journey to the Netherlands we had a few very clear goals in mind; meet up with family and friends, connect with existing and potential supporters, build a team, and connect with an ANBI. We did all of those things but they happened quite a bit differently than we thought they would but as in all things; God is in control and He is leading us where we need to go. This has truly been what God has been teaching us over the past few years as we have been settling into life as a missionary couple.

Leaving the house on the way to the airport we didn’t know what to expect when it came to traveling with an infant only 2.5 months old but on each of the 3 flights she did amazing. She cried only a little when she was hungry and slept the rest of the way. The first week in the Netherlands was a bit rough because of jetlag and such but we were still able to see lots of family during that time. Over the course of the next few weeks we saw a lot of family and friends and visited our supporters as well. We also got to spend time walking and biking through the beautiful country that is the Netherlands. We also took Saoirse swimming for the first time which didn’t really take at first but when we took her a second time she started to enjoy it a lot more.

I, Chester, also went to Opwekking, a big Christian “revival” conference hosted every year with roughly 70,000 visitors over the course of 4 days, during this time. Funnily enough YWAM, the organization we are connected with, was also there with multiple information stands and I decided to go chat with them and see what the people at the stands were up to in their normal missions life because it is always cool to hear other people’s mission stories and faith journeys. During this conversation we somehow got to the topic of donations and ANBI, which is the Dutch 501(c)3 non-profit status. Coincidentally, or was it God’s leading?!, the guy I spoke with works with the Member Care team, which is the team that supports active Dutch fieldworkers in whatever way they can, including helping them receive donations and making them tax deductible for donors. He suggested we meet up at a later date to discuss further details which we did. Now a few weeks later we received word back from them that we are now officially a project under their foundation and that any donations sent through them are tax deductible! Praise God for His goodness lasts forever! If you would like to support us financially and would like it to be tax deductible then please see our website for options (we have tax deductible options for both the Netherlands and the US).

The rest of the trip went by very quickly which was good because by week 3 we were already missing home and wanting to go back. But our work wasn’t done just yet. We also had plans to build out a team who would be there to support us at “home” in the Netherlands with fundraising and other related activities. So we had been in contact with several people throughout the first part of our trip and just generally getting to know them a bit better than we already did and during the second half we asked to sit down with each of them to ask them to join our team. Within a week we had our answers from each of the 3 people we asked. So we now have a team of 5 people consisting of 2 couples and 1 single. The next update will be written by the team to introduce themselves a bit and explain more about the work they will be doing.