Coming up for air

February 20, 2012

Beloved family & friends of the Wester’s,

A few months ago, I was given an opportunity to dive in to the unknown, and I’ve only just come up for air. Let me explain:

For the past few years as I’ve had the privilege of serving as the Director of YUGO’s Ensenada Outreach Center, I have worked towards developing a strong team of fellow leaders who could thrive in my absence. I hope I’ve done this in a manner that follows the example Jesus gave us with his disciples.

This past summer it was especially evident to me that my job was completed to the extent that I sensed a freedom to pray for a new opportunity.

Ana and I dearly love the community of friends we are sharing life & ministry with in Ensenada, and we selfishly hoped & prayed for an opportunity that would afford us the opportunity to continue living in Ensenada.

God answered our prayer but it came with a condition, and a cost.

The condition: that I have the faith to once again dive headfirst into an unknown situation.

This past November I formally relinquished the role & responsibility as the Director of YUGO’s Ensenada Outreach Center to two people I love and respect; Mardy Barnes & Rhonda Elgersma. It was a joyful occasion to hand over the mantle of leadership I had carried for five years. To God be the Glory!

In doing so, I accepted a new mantle of leadership, thus the Condition & Cost. I was asked by YUGO Ministries to accept a newly defined role of Mexico Field Director and the task of creating a Mexico Field Office for YUGO Ministries.

As YUGO Ministries Mexico Field Director I am now responsible for all the YUGO Ministry Centers and Missionaries serving on the field in Mexico. Whereas I’ve formerly dove into a pool or lake, I feel like I have now dove into an ocean.

YUGO Ministries has a great track record of faithfully carrying out the Great Commission throughout its 45+ year history. However the past few years have been difficult and left the organization in a vulnerable state. I will need your prayers & support more than ever as I am stretched and tested beyond what I believed possible.

The cost: as a family we would be willing to give up a comfortable routine that we have become accustomed to.

This hasn’t been an easy transition by any measure. Before I rarely had to travel away from home without Ana and the girls. I had a daily commute of less than 100 steps, and was able to eat lunch with my family daily.

Now I regularly spend three days a week on the road, visiting other Ministry Centers or the YUGO US office, and I rarely can eat lunch with my family during the week.

There is a tremendous Blessing though. As I mentioned, we dearly love the community we are a part of and we are able to continue living in Ensenada! Furthermore, we are living in Mexico because of a calling we have received & responded to. It is a Blessing to be serving within a community & organization that God is bearing abundant fruit through!

Another blessing, that is difficult to quantify, is the joy of being part of an international team that all of you make up, as our faithful friends, prayer partners, financial supporters, counselors, elders & fellow servants. What a Blessing & Treasure to work with you in the field, for the most relevant harvest of our lives.

We continue to have a tremendous burden for the forgotten people of Latin America, and while we humbly acknowledge that the work we are a part of is on a small scale in a global sense; the opportunity to have a greater impact on Mexico and the World through this new role is a challenge we are willing to faithfully invest in.

We are grateful for your participation in forming a team with us in this ministry. Although it grieves me to confess that I often swim for a spell without coming up for air. When I do this it robs you of the blessing of sharing in the Kingdom work that you are a part of in Mexico.

As I have committed to dive in deeper with YUGO Ministries, I also recommit to honoring the investment you are continuing to make with us as we collaborate in ministry together.

We pray for a deepening intimacy for you & ourselves in the Lord and a mutual surrendering of ourselves so that His will may be done through us this season. And that more lives in Mexico and the World will be transformed through Jesus Christ.

Amen

Scott (for) Ana, Naomi & Nicole Wester