We've been thinking and praying about what might be next for our family for quite some time, now. Ever since our trip to the U.S., to be honest. We have loved living and working here. We have learned and grown so much and our team here is quite literally a dream team. We have grown stronger in our marriage, grown from a family of two to a family of three, grown closer to the Lord, and grown in our gifts and as community builders.
However, we both felt God stirring in our hearts that this chapter of our story was coming to a close. As we traveled the U.S. over the holidays, we spent a lot of time thinking and praying about where God was leading us next. Was it back to the U.S.? What would we do there? Would we re-join the corporate world? Where would we live? We got back to Thailand with what felt like more questions and uncertainty than answers and clarity.
And then there was Cambodia...
Buddy supports an orphanage in Cambodia through Stop Slavery. We visited Siem Reap with Buddy and Peter and a team from Okinawa, Japan in March. While we were there, we prayed about whether or not Siem Reap was the next place for us. We strongly felt God leading us there. It is a buzzing, growing city, and as such, there are multiple business opportunities. Khmer (the language spoken in Cambodia) is much easier to learn than Thai, and many Cambodians speak English fluently. Visas and work permits are also insanely easy to obtain there (especially compared to Thailand). The orphanage is there, presenting an opportunity to pour into precious young lives God cares so much about, and then there is the whole city filled with locals and expats who don't know the Lord. Plus it was just a super cool place to be. We returned to Chiang Mai from Siem Reap feeling like we had finally figured out our next step.
And then God "called us home..."
Ha. Confusing wording. I'm not writing this from heaven. But I will wrap this story up. Through a crazy turn of events, we ended up visiting Japan in April. The purpose of the trip was mainly to visit family we hadn't seen in a while, and potentially to do some support-raising as we took steps toward Cambodia. However, while we were there, the Pastor of our home church in Okinawa threw us a curve ball. He shared with us the vision and various needs within the church and asked us to pray about coming on staff to help meet some of those needs.
We were surprised to say the least, but the more we talked about it and prayed about it, the more and more peace we felt about it. Essentially, everything we were hoping to build in Cambodia had been waiting for us in Okinawa all along. We both have roots and family there. We were both raised there and it's familiar to us. Alex's parents and my mom is there, and as all parents of little ones know, grandparents are a wonderful, wonderful thing. We already speak the language (although my Japanese is quite rusty to be honest), and we already have relationships with so many nonbelievers there who want to share their lives with us. On top of that, we will be jumping right into ministry opportunities by coming on staff at a thriving church that has been like a family to us since we were young teenagers.
So... timeline. This is where it gets crazy. We are planning on getting to Okinawa in early August. Alex will be starting his new position on staff at Calvary Chapel Okinawa in September 2015. We got to Thailand in a whirlwind and it seems we're going to leave in the same way. A couple things about what this change means - I will still be staying at home with Elliot, and Alex will be coming on staff full-time at Calvary. This will be a paid position, and it will alleviate the need for extra financial support. To all our monthly financial supporters, we will be coming off of Stop Slavery's account in August, so any donations made to us after late July will go straight to Stop Slavery. Stop Slavery is an awesome organization doing a lot of great work in anti-trafficking, so please feel free to continue supporting Stop Slavery if you would like to. However, we do want to make it clear that we, the Sartores, will no longer be receiving financial support through Stop Slavery after this July.
So what now?
First of all, we want to extend a most sincere and heartfelt THANK YOU to all of YOU, our supporters. To every single one of you who has prayed for us, hosted us, fed us, financially supported us, grabbed coffee with us, or Skyped with us over the last two years... thank you, thank you, THANK YOU. We are so humbled and grateful that you would come alongside us and entrust us with your time, resources, and lives. We will never be able to repay you for the kindness you have all shown us.
Secondly, I will ask that you continue to pray for us in this time of transition. We have only been in Thailand for two short years, but it has been such a rich and fulfilling time here. Our team mates and house church and friends we've made here have become like family to us and it is going to break our hearts to say goodbye to them. Please pray that we would make the most of these last couple months here and that God would not be done with us yet. :]
Please pray also that the transition out of our home in Thailand and to our next home in Okinawa would go smoothly and as quickly as possible. We're already out of our own house in Chiang Mai and are cat-sitting at the Rathmells' house until they get back from the States. Any time spent in transition (aka living out of suitcases) has always been a bit stressful for me and for some reason throwing a baby into the mix hasn't made it any easier. ;) Once we get to Okinawa, I'm sure it'll take us some time to find our own place and for it to feel like home. If you could pray that this whole process would be on the fast-track, I'd REALLY appreciate it.
Lastly, and more importantly, please pray for unity. Any time we make an attempt to take steps for the sake of the Kingdom, there is an enemy that wants nothing more than to oppose, discourage, and divide us. Please pray that we would continue to abide in Christ and love each other and baby Elliot (who just turned ONE!) well. Please pray also for unity with our new team as we join the staff of Calvary Chapel Okinawa. I'll save the details of the job for another post for now, but please pray that the Holy Spirit would fill us up as He sends us back to Okinawa and that we would be a blessing to the church as well as our friends and family in Okinawa.
We are sad to be leaving Thailand but we are truly looking forward to this next step. Okinawa is such a special place to us both, and we are excited to call it home once again. We want to thank you all so so so much again for partnering with us on this journey over the last two years. It has been unbelievable. We'll do our best to continue to post updates on here as much as possible (if anyone's interested, haha!) and as always, we'd love to hear from any and all of you. Tell us what's going on in YOUR lives and how we can pray for you. We love you all and are so so grateful. Seriously. I cannot begin to express what your support has meant to us over the last two years. I'll just say it one last time: THANK YOU.
jess