Lock down: the season

Hello Friends,

 

So glad for this time and this season of rest and being able to communicate better with y’all.

 

So we wrapped up the school early because of COVID-19, so we had to finish the last couple weeks of lecture phase online. All but two of our lovely students went home to be with their families. There are opportunities for the ones who want to finish the course to go on outreach with us when the whole situation clears up, and really give the students the full experience of what primary healthcare looks like in the nations. The students who stayed, choose to join health care and are helping working on projects and continuing to learn, and go over different aspects of healthcare to upkeep their skills.

 

What’s happening on base?

As a base we’re running our first online school, The Bible Core Course (BCC) which is incredible! We’re so excited to be able to have students from on base, but also all around the world. We have the largest second level school to ever run with 54 students. We’re so excited to have so many people getting even more in depth in the bible, reading through the bible all the way, and getting even more revelation about it.

We have a ministry on base that is called 100 Evangelist, and one of the really cool that during lock down they have been looking into how to do evangelism when you can't meet people and encounter them in person. I really loved hearing how they are having good meaningful conversations with people online.

Transition

This season has been a challenging season for me, a lot of surprises with how outreach got changed multiple times, and then set for a pending date. My house has gone through changes as well, with people feeling the call to be with their families in this season. We also having other people moving in, and continuing in fellowship for this season, with more people, and in different ways, as the restrictions change how I can relate to people.

There have been hard moments and good moments, I’ve been learning to love the refinement God has brought in this season and how it’s been shaping in humility and identity and really knowing how to rely on God in a totally different way.

 

 

What does this season look like

In this season I’ve really been blessed by a more relaxed schedule, I was so excited for outreach but I’ve appreciated God’s grace for a season of rest, and getting to look at how I need to take better care of myself in the busy season of running around.

Some projects I’ve been working on have been helping refining the homework for the Primary health care school for 2021 making it more comprehensible for the students next year; and getting to help cover the students that joined from PHC lecture phase. I’ve also been able to pray and really look at what the future can look like for the rest of this year, and up coming schools.

As a health care ministry, we’ve been looking more into the projects that we haven’t always had time to invest lots of time into. And getting to invest through prayer into the nations, projects and ideas God has brought up, and called us to look closer into. 

It's been so exciting getting to help team designing a shirt idea for one of the ministries covered by Health Care and really enjoyed getting to be part of something that will be around for a while.

During this season God started speaking a lot about creativity- starting with the ARMS shirts, but even going into personal art and quiet times using art, God is creative and has called me into a place of creativity both in serving people but also for fun.

 

Home

I've loved being inside the home God has put me in for this season! I have four lovely house mates, one works in media, another in the kitchen, someone else works part time in the kitchen but currently is preparing to co-lead an online school, and another house mate is staffing the Bible Core Course. Something we do as a house is almost every night sit around the table and talk about our day and what we did, funny things we saw or even showing a beautiful book that God told them to buy. I've loved going on coffee dates with these ladies, and trying bagels from a local bakery. This season has also been a lot of painting for me, and really just developing more skill and the process of how God talks while painting. 

Connecting

I’m looking for more opportunities to connect to you guys back home, and would love to hear ideas now how I could do that, joining in a video call with your church, small group, family, or having a live stream to answer questions you have about YWAM Perth, how I got into missions, what I’m doing here, how cool God is, etc. Would love to hear from you, if you have a specific way I can connect with you and I would love to hear how I can pray for you and your families.

Encouragement & Prayer

I know these times are hard, but I'm proud of you guys for how y'all have risen up as the church, following the government and serving those in need! And how y'all have continued to faithfully support those who are still serving overseas.

I would love prayer for clarity for the future, and for the opportunities to connect and communicate well with y’all!

I wanted to say thank you for all of you who have supported me, it has meant so much to have people tell me they're praying and the different financial and other gifts people have given me. Thank you!

Best regards,

Joannah Zimmerman