New Direction

March 3, 2010

Dear partners of JoEllen,

Greeting from Hawaii that is peaceful again, after the crazy tsunami threat! We are thanking God for answers to prayer for mercy during the storm.

I want you to know that I am so grateful for you! I am blessed that the Holy Spirit has placed me on your hearts, and I feel privileged to partner with you. You each have made me feel fully encouraged to continue in my calling as a missionary with Youth With a Mission, it is your support that has made it possible! So thank you again, and again from the bottom of my heart.

Jesus says in 2 Corinthians 9:6 “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously”. I have seen that I have been able to reap generously in spiritual blessings, because of that which each of you has sown within me. Furthermore, since September God has also allowed me to share with others, because He is so able to give what is needed for the moment. Thank you Jesus! I have been able to give (even out of my comfort zone at times), to abundantly bless others as a missionary. Jesus has fulfilled his promise to provide for me, as I have trusted him. I stepped forward, and have given of my life to follow God’s leading. The results have been a great deal of growing in my trust level to a God that is absolutely faithful.

During my time in “Fire and Fragrance” the YWAM missionary training school, God has clearly confirmed a long term calling to missions to reach un-evangelized people throughout the world. As you know, I had a scheduled trip to Afghanistan as apart of this school. However, God has a detour in this plan. He stopped me to consider the timing of this trip, and to wait for the yet to be met provisions of the budget. I have been listening to God’s voice, as I have been broken of figuring it all out by human reason. I decided instead to give God control to lead according to His will, to guide my steps and my life as he shows me how to adjust. I can honestly say this journey of following God has taught me much more about His character, and His voice, than actually reaching the final location in the Middle East.

I have discovered that as a missionary, I can error on the side of spending a lot of time drawing attention to my ministry needs that are truly pressing. This is because I know with certainty that I really want to serve and fulfill the great commission. However, what has come forth is the reality that I am committed to serving God and others, no matter the location. I resonated with my base leader this week as he gently reminded the missionaries “it is not about us”. He is right! It is about sharing in God’s plan. In addition, I have increased my heart for people to know Jesus and share his goodness with those around me. What I have figured out is that I can confidently say that the financial giving that has come thus far from you has flowed into a valuable training period. It has increased my love for God and developed within me more and more of an outward focus. In addition, that which has not come has not come to pass yet has not hindered me, but is just is sending me in a new direction and causing me to wait for the right time to share in the Muslim world. So this past week, I have decided to pursue instead a possible local outreach here on the island of Kaui for the 10 weeks of outreach. This is exciting, because recently I have connected with several young local Hawaiian girls. They are spiritually hungry, un-churched and want a spiritual mother. It has highlighted for me a special focus on God’s heart for the islands. The blessing in this is that with a local outreach possibility; I will be able to look forward to this time of fitting together a more defined plan for a longer term commitment as a missionary. Plus, it will not be as financially demanding. I will continue to count the cost, as I am attempting to build stronger foundations towards longer term ministry. I believe in time God will unfold how I will reach the darkest places with his love. I plan to be in PA in July and hope to present a live defined vision for future missions work and see so many people that I miss and give out a great deal of hugs!

I hope that you will continue to prayerfully lift me up in prayer in the coming weeks. Prayer is the greatest foundation in all that I do. During the time in our school we have learned about the marriage of the 24 hour prayer movement and missionary outreach. I have counted it a joy to daily be interceding corporately 15 hours a week for people all around the world. It is something I learned how to do during this training that will be apart of me for years to come! I also love that prayer is always a basis to position us for practical outreach. As I gain more details of my 10 week local outreach, I will forward them to you. Continue to check out my blog at joellenreynolds.blogspot.com for weekly updates.


Thank you for your continued giving, love and prayers it has made the kingdom of God advance!


God Bless you richly,




JoEllen Reynolds