07 Jul 2010

Getting back, Moving forward

We are back in Newcastle! Our flight got in on the 24th of June. The last week and a half have been spent getting back into the swing of things, hearing God and moving back into roles and into new areas.

Being in the states was really difficult, while also being good in ways. We spent lots of time in Ventura, CA wading through grief, avoidance, reunion, processing, fun, sadness, understanding, brokenness and lots of down time. We were able to visit Sarah's side of the family in Columbus, OH and in Nashville, TN, all the while being blessed and sustained by your kind words and donations. So thank you to everyone who gave prayerfully and financially to us over the last couple months. It was a undeniably necessary and appreciated.

What are we doing now that we're back? Well, mostly picking up where we left off; Shawn is in Creative Department, leading and organising worship, sound, etc. and staffing Youth Street Music Team; I am back planning, organising, and overseeing aspects of Youth Street, various events as well as helping in Lewis House Kitchen feeding lunch to our massive base! A few months ago we began planning to relocate to Tijuana, Mexico in January! I [Sarah] am doing a 9 month school (with YWAM Mexico) called Children at Risk. It focuses on training and equipping for work with kids coming from high risk, traumatic situations (ie: war, poverty, sex trafficking, slavery, etc). I am very, very excited about this. Working with children like this is something that I've become very passionate about over the last couple years and I'm excited to be formally trained in it. What is Shawn doing during that time? He's still praying about attending the school, leading worship, etc... Stay tuned for more!!!

Currently I am helping put together an all day event we are hosting for the Not For Sale organization, a group focused on training and equipping everyday citizens to see the human slave trade abolished! The founder, David Batstone, and one other are coming on July 17 to run workshops and seminars with the people of Newcastle and we have the awesome opportunity to host them. I'm super excited to be working on this because it is so close to my heart!

We're praying and working out what the next few months will look like; at this point, planning to be home in October, spend Thanksgiving with Shawn's family, then head to the east coast for a [hopefully] white Christmas with my family! First holiday season at home in THREE years! We're very excited about it.

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13 Jun 2010

Sudden.

I will always miss you, Mom.

5am Thursday, April 22nd 2010 Newcastle, Australia: I awake to a phone call from my Aunt Shirley. She makes sure I am awake enough to fully understand what she has to say. She then lets me know that my mom has passed away. I don't know what to say. Sarah is there to hold me as I take it in.

Our Base Director, David Stephenson, took us out to breakfast and helped us on our way to greiving as well as sent us off with a blessing. We hopped on a plane that day and flew to California. My family was all at Grandma's house. Grandma was really broken up; her only daughter, who struggled through life to see me succeed, was gone. There is nothing to say or do in the first couple days of grief this intense. Thank you, Lord, for Sarah, Mike, Shirley and all the family around us that made sure things were taken care of.

I didn't cry much until the memorial service. It is taking a long time to realize that my mother is really gone. She was in prison and mental hospitals much of my life, so not being around doesn't suffice. I am beginning to understand, and break, as I wrap my head around her immense absence.

We have been visited and loved on by Sarah's family as some came to California and as we went to them on the east side of USA. We have cried together, I have cried hard with Grandma, I have wailed... wailed so hard, I never knew pain like this until now. But through all of this the promises of God sustain. There is hope. My mom hurt in life, she fought herself, she fought depression, disease, cocaine, heroine, suicidal thoughts, the world, the enemy. In death she glorifies the Lord as she basks in His presence. My King, my Lord, my God... He is not partial, His favor is on those who ask for it. Kathy Rebecca Cothran wanted God in life, but lives with God through death.

As we spend the last couple weeks here in California before heading back to our ministry and calling in Newcastle, I am seeing a counselor a few times, Sarah and I are seeking God over our finances, direction, and thorough processing through the grief. We are grateful for your prayers, letters, emails, donations and cards.

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13 Apr 2010

Crew Camp Crazy Cothrans

What a month it has been!

In a few days we get to move into a new house! But first we get to renovate! It's going to be so much fun to take the next couple weeks a give this house a facelift. I'm holding my breath for their to be NO cockroaches or other rodents. We're scrubbing down the walls, painting, pulling out carpet, and many other things. I'm really looking forward to the break from spending my days in the office to doing some manual labor. 

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11 Apr 2010

BLOGTASTIC!

We have a whole new update system in place that is quicker and easier than ever. AND!!! You can add your comments right to our updates as well as subscribing to the RSS or just emails to let you know when we add a new blog post. I hope you do. We will put a proper update on here in the next couple days.

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11 Apr 2010

Media Filled Test

So, here is our first media inclusive test blog! ...what one dude said. He was a total Lorem Ipsum fan and had mega de said. He was a total Lorem Ipsum fan and had mega form bonzo castle in miami for tan flute. and will the pic have text to the side?

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10 Apr 2010

We May Have A New System...

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28 Feb 2010

YWAMships.org

The Cothran family helps call 100,000 Aussie youth to missions in 2010!

Our base hosted one of a few big dinners for all the visiting bases and ship crew from New Zealand. There were around 200 people packed into our backyard! It was a great missionary family time of connecting with old and new friends. Unity is a huge principle in the midst of ministry.

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27 Jan 2010

(pronounced: "Twenty-Ten" the future!)

I am getting better at coding!

2010 is YWAM's 50th anniversary. Last week in Canberra there was a
celebration for eastern Australia. Our whole base (104 people) packed
up and went down for the week, where we heard from YWAM founders,
Loren and Darlene Cunningham (thanks to Shawn who lead a team that
went early, set up and ran all the sound). It was such a fantastic
week of meeting new people currently in, formerly, or blessed by YWAM
and hearing from our founders on our history and where the mission is
headed. God spoke to us and encouraged us in our life together
especially for next year. We (YWAM Newcastle) ran a cafe during the
celebration and were able to raise money for the building of our new cafe in the Youth
Street warehouse. Thanks to those of you who donated towards our
travel and accommodation expenses! It was such a blessing for us to be
able to go.

In February, the busyness that we've been experiencing will be at a
whole new level. The YWAM Australia and Papua New Guinea Ship Tour
launches on February 23 with a week of teams (including bands, dance
groups, and speakers) going into local high schools as well as classes
coming to take tours on the medical ship and be presented with ways
that they can be involved in missions. The week will finish off with
an all day Youth Street festival that will include art exhibits, skate
demos, sport competitions, dance performances and live bands and a
presentation on the purpose and mission of the ship and YWAM
Australia's efforts to see young people take action in missions. This
is a huge prayer point for me (Sarah) as I am in charge of seeing all
of this come together along with receiving all the necessary
permissions from the local council for it to actually happen. My
(Shawn's) band, Like Moths, will be performing and helping with the
ship tour in Newcastle and all the way along the North Tour up to
Townsville. Pray we continue to write new songs enabling youth to
connect with God!

We need more support! And every
little bit helps. This month, our car (Victor) needed inspection for
new registration but didn't even come close to passing and would cost
more than it is actually worth ($30) for us to get it fixed. SO,
tomorrow morning the wrecker's are coming to pick up our beloved piece
of scrap metal and we will be car-less. I guess its good, because now
we can get our $500 insurance deposit back. Also keep us in your
prayers as we look for a more permanent place to live here in Newie.
The market is chock full of really gross little places that are too
far away from base and not so full of nice places nearby. We have
around $1500 (and growing) in debt to the base in staff fees and $4k
(very slowly decreasing) in evil credit card debt. God continues to
teach us, speak to us and develop our communication and relationships
with you through this pressure! Thank you, Lord, for working all
things together for the good of those that love you.

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29 Dec 2009

Christmas!

At the end of November, our base held its annual fundraiser event for our warehouse building project. Despite the 115 degree heat inside and out, we had a great turn out of around 250 guests. We also saw about $46,000 come in which will go straight into building our cafe and the auditorium, which we need to have completed by April because we are hosting a YWAM National Leader's Meeting in May.

Shawn- My band, Like Moths, has been working our bunz off, writing lots of new material, recording, and we've had the opportunity to play a few times around Newcastle at events and in schools. We've had the chance to personally connect with heaps of young people and have even seen some of them come to Youth Street because of it. The humble beginnings are feeling really exciting and promising. We've just completed our application as a performance team for the YWAM Australia and PNG ship tour and can't wait to get out there and do our stuff and see what God does through it.

Sarah- This past month has been my busiest one yet in the nearly 3 years that I've been here. The school year wrapped up in mid-December, so that aspect of ministry is on hold for the time being. I was leading the Youth Street department for nearly a month and learned a whole lot during that time. We were in the midst of running an event called The Rage which purposes to see new Youth Street kids coming on Saturdays. It was quite challenging to get our crew that have been coming to understand the reason to bring their friends and the importance of doing so. Needless to say, I think that God has given a fair bit of vision to some of us about how to constantly keep things dynamic and up to speed with what's cool in youth culture. We're constantly needing to be cutting edge to keep our kids involved. My focus is now turning more fully to the upcoming Ship Tour and the in's and out's of what will be going on while the ship is actually in Newcastle.

We celebrated our first Christmas together as a married couple! It was a lot of fun and we spent a majority of the time with our "Base" family, playing games, eating lots of food, and just spending time together. We had about 4 days off of work and it was a much needed break. As we head into 2010 it's looking to be a very busy year, but heaps exciting at the same time. Stay tuned for what's on the horizon for the Cothrans!!!

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