Ashley's Updates

 It's hard to believe that I've been back from my outreach for over a month already! Time really flies.  Just in case you missed it: I took a team of nurses from Kona to Papua New Guinea at the end of August, and joined our medical outreaches happening there for two weeks. After that I flew to Fiji, where I joined the YWAM Koha (a vessel operated out of New Zealand), and served as a nurse and supported their clinic leaders for five weeks! It was such an incredible time spent in PNG. I was really nervous to go back, because of how things had gone last time, being so difficult and covid restrictions, etc., but I feel like the Lord really redeemed my time there, and I felt the joy of the ministry and the love for PNG that I had first had when I joined staff in 2019, and I was actually sad to leave and only be there for ten days.  It was such a precious time of connecting with the staff there and encouraging them, building relationships and blessing the people through the med...

 I can't believe it's already time! As I'm writing this, I fly out of Kona in 48 hours for a two month outreach, split between Papua New Guinea and Fiji.  Over the past three months or so I've been fundraising and preparing to go back to PNG and to serve onboard the YWAM Koha in Fiji. I have been so blessed to see the wild generosity of people around me, who support what I am doing and want to help me get there. I am so grateful for you! I got to go home in June to visit family! The last couple months I have been leading the Fleet support office while my ministry leader Conrad has been away. It has been super stretching to be in a position where I need to lead team members spiritually, as well as make decisions and communicate with volunteers onboard the ship as well as with upper management at the base. It's been a really good exercise for me to flex that muscle that I haven't really used since I was in PNG in 2021, and it's really neat to see how the timin...

 I just recently turned 31, and as I was praying about what would this year look like, and what does the Lord have for me in this year, I felt him explain to me that this past year had been inward; all about me: recovering from living overseas long-term, getting settled and rooted in a new place, and healing and growing. This year is going to be marked by going outward. It's very cool, because I've already seen how the Lord has started opening new doors for me to be able to serve the community in Kona as well as the ministry overseas, and I am even feeling like I have a greater capacity for giving than I did just a month ago.  The exciting news, however, is that I will get to go on outreach this year! Our medical department is putting on a medical seminar from August 21-25, as a way to invite medical professionals to come and be in a missions environment, to learn about key concepts of medical missions, and potentially get launched into medical missions. We are offering an opt...

 I can't believe it's already March! This year is already flying by, and I think it's because we've been so busy getting ready for our 2023 outreaches to start! Our first medical outreach begins next week! Our first volunteers of the year will be arriving in Madang on Monday, and they'll begin our first clinics of the year on the 13th.  Sending my lovely friend Alexis off to Papua New Guinea! I've been working hard to prepare the volunteers for what to expect and collecting their documents, answering all their questions, and getting them excited. I've also been helping our clinic leader in Madang prepare the supplies and equipment she'll need to run the clinics this year. We have twelve volunteers who have already booked their flights to png this year, and many more who are in the works! Last month I had the privilege of travelling to Houston, Texas to attend the M3 Medical Missions conference at Lakewood Church! We were exhibiting at our booth, sharing ...

 Merry Christmas! I can't believe it has been another year already. I just thought I'd send out a little note to summarize everything that the Lord did this year, and where he's headed in the next year! The Fleet Support Team! In my personal life, the Lord got me settled in Hawaii! I have a permanent home with amazing roommates, a work that I love, a visa to be able to work part-time and maintain my nursing license, a car, and the most amazing and supportive community. God has been so good and faithful this year! Through all the unknowns, what I know to be true remained consistent: God's blessings will always look completely different and be way better than you could imagine for yourself. If you have a word from the Lord for your life, say yes, be obedient, stay open, and watch God work! In my ministry life, we saw more provision and breakthrough in 2022 than we ever have! From somehow raising $8.2 million to secure a permanent training facility in Kona, to receiving th...

 This year we have seen so much momentum start to build. Finances coming in, volunteers going to Madang to serve, important partnerships being made. It has all been culminating to the massive breakthrough that we had this week!  To start off with, our medical team in Madang travelled safely up to Mount Hagen in the Highlands, where we are partnering with the local hospital and doing cataract surgeries! This is the first eye surgery outreach we have been able to do since I was there in 2019. It took so much effort and planning and coordinating for it to happen, and we are so grateful to God that he opened the doors for that! The Liberty is going into the dry dock TODAY. We have been praying, planning, and working towards this for two and a half years, and now it is finally happening! I can hardly believe it; it doesn't seem real. I am so grateful to God, and how he taught me to persevere, and that now I get to see the fruits of that labour. We are hopeful that the ship will lan...