Newly Wed Update!

WE’RE MARRIED

And what a whirlwind 2 months it has been!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Before we get into what we are doing now we wanted to first reflect on these past few months.

We are still speechless about the fairytale wedding that we were able to have thanks to so many of you. Thank you again for your generosity all those that made our day special with everything from, the dress, the venue, the food, the decorations, the flowers, the cake, the help setting up and cleaning up, the gifts, and the honeymoon! Every little detail of the big day was a total blessing and truly all gifts from the Lord. Thank you to every single person who helped and who gave. We are absolutely undone with how loved and treasured we were. We experienced the faithfulness and goodness of God in so many beautiful and tangible ways leading up to and on the big day. We are more convinced that He has totally got us and is truly our provider, that His plans for us are far greater than our wildest dreams. We are more convinced than ever that every single thing we have sacrificed to jump into this lifestyle of missions can not compare to the treasures God has for us along the way. Our wedding day was the biggest testimony of this for both of us! Where we were prepared and pumped about even just having a bargain wedding with the simplest things, God went above and beyond and brought an army of people around us who loved us so extravagantly and who celebrated and blessed us so extravagantly. If you haven’t gotten to see the pictures from the day, or want to watch the wedding you can find all the pictures and the recording of the big day on our joint Facebook page “Jaco & Ashley’s Missions Adventures” or click here

Before we move on I wanted to take a moment to reflect on this past year of our lives because it has left us completely speechless as we saw God’s hand in it in all aspects. We have had a truly blessed year with incredible opportunities around the world. This includes getting to lead a team to Peru for the One Nation One Day (click here or read our update, what happened in Peru) outreach that changed our lives completely. We then got to have some time in England for Ashley to meet Jaco’s sisters and some very dear friends that are more like family. All of this whilst by the grace of God surviving a head-on collision on the small country roads of Cornwall, totally by the grace of God. We then got to travel to South Africa for Ashley to meet Jaco’s parents, family, and friends as well as make new friends along the way. This was all before we spent the last 6 weeks in Oklahoma preparing for the wedding and sharing about the goodness of God. Through it all, we were awestruck by the way that God truly is on the move around the world in local churches and communities that are hungry for His presence, hungry for Him to get His glory and for His kingdom to expand. We were blown away by every church, school and group we had the privilege of sharing at, it was an ultimately life-changing experience.

Looking back, the past two months of being married has definitely been our most amazing adventure yet. It has been absolutely filled to the brim as we jumped straight back into ministry on staff here at YWAM the day we got back from the honeymoon. However, in between the business, the classes, the meetings, worship nights, small groups, students, homework, grading, and all our other responsibilities, we have been able to build a home together and fall even more crazy in love with each other than ever before. There is truly nothing better than getting to do ministry and do life side by side with your best friend. We are fully thriving and definitely growing so much as we figure out and discover what our new normal looks like in this amazing new chapter of our adventure together. We have had so much fun making our tiny little campus apartment into a cute ‘lil home and absolutely love it. One of the things that we love the most about where we are, is the community aspect and how plugged in we feel. It is incredible to see friends become family and to see the power of community running after Jesus together. The Lord truly does command his blessing when we come together in common unity around Him and seeking His presence and fullness. We have definitely felt this in our apartment feeling the presence of the Lord tangibly as we have received many breakthroughs as well as our friends. God is on the move and he is doing it through community and family.

So ...What are we doing now?

That is why we love the school communities that we are both parts of currently. At the moment we are both staffing a course called Foundations for Revival & Reformation which is the school we helped with last year. It is a school that we have completely fallen in love with and plan to take to and plant in South Africa eventually. Jaco is also currently taking a 3-month course called Stewardship and Sustainability that the Lord highlighted and provided an opportunity to take. The course focuses on developing practical skills in the areas of Food, Energy, Water and Shelter that would be needed for holistic and sustainable community development. It has already given Jaco so many incredible skills, tools, and ideas that we know we will be needing and applying in the years to come as we dream about seeing communities and nations revived and reformed in Africa.

Ashley’s focus for the period from September to December is to help disciple and facilitate the Revival and Reformation students through the Bible school portion of the 9-month course. This includes one on one discipleship as well as small group facilitation which has been an incredible avenue for breakthrough for the students just through studying the word.

In the midst of being part of these two schools, we are also busy with staff training and preparation for the next quarter when we will be diving into Biblical Worldview and Spheres. This is probably one of our favorite parts of Revival and Reformation as we get to dive into and see what God’s heart is for the world around us and how He designed the body to work together for His glory. We are expectant and excited for this journey as we enter 2020, if you would like to know more or have any questions comments or feedback please feel free to contact us. We would love to hear from you.

Love and Blessings from Mr. & Mrs. Diederiks!