10 minute read

Hello, friends and family,

Nearly one year later, we have a new update to post on our website. Many of you we’ve had the chance to chat with in person or via the phone, but many of you we have not. We hope this update finds all of you very well. It’s been a challenging couple of years for many people and families around the world, and we pray you are experiencing God’s peace and hope in this season.

What you’ll read in this update:

• Our 2022 summarised
• Our time on staff with Youth With A Mission, Perth has ended
• Our upcoming adventures in France
• Prayer Points

Our 2022 Summarised

Last year could be summarised by a few words: rest, reflection, and seeking God.

We were invited by our amazing pastors at Church on the Rock, Texarkana to come and have a break in the USA. We had served in a full-time missions for many years, and had a difficult time during the COVID season (just like everyone else in the world). We hadn’t had the chance to visit Abi’s family since January 2020, right before COVID went global. Lily was already 1 year old, and Abi’s family hadn’t had the chance to meet her yet. We arrived in March and stayed until September.

This was such a precious and important time for us as a married couple and as a family. We were simply exhausted leading up to it, and we were already asking the Lord some big questions about our future. God had challenged us in the months prior, to consider that He may send us somewhere besides YWAM Perth as our “home base”. This brought up many questions, and many, many conversations with mentors in Perth and in Texarkana. We did a lot of processing with amazing people we trust, and though we didn’t get the answers we were hoping for (“What’s next?”) during our stay, we flew back home to Perth ready to get back into leading worship and waiting for God to bring the answer.

We also had lots of fun while in the USA! We visited Abi’s extended family, Joel built the most incredible treehouse with Abi’s dad, the kids got to play with their cousins and dear friends in Texarkana, and we even went to a water park with “Grandmarmie” (Abi’s mom)! We also spent a couple of nights away from the kids in New York City! This was a huge blessing and gift to us and we had an amazing time.

We also were sick multiple times throughout our stay, but the good times far outweighed the bad. We are forever grateful to Abi’s parents and to our pastors and other supporters for their incredible generosity and hospitality to us for nearly 6 months.

Our Time on Staff with Youth With A Mission, Perth has Ended

After returning from the USA in September, we hopped back into leading worship for the YWAM base, and invested in our children. Levi kept going to the preschool on base, and Lily grew a lot of hair! Haha!

While in America, we had quite a few occasions where we felt like God was speaking to us to be like Abraham in Genesis 12:1,

“The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you.”

We struggled to interpret this for a while, as our base had also gone through many changes the past couple of years. We wondered what “the land I will show you” could mean, and if we were to move on to somewhere else, we wanted to be sure God was saying so. Abi also had the sense while in America that God would bring some answers for us in December 2022, so we did our best to faithfully serve where we were and keep our eyes and ears open to what God might be saying.

Just before Christmas, we received an invitation from some good friends of ours in Youth With A Mission, Paris, France. They asked if we would consider visiting Paris for a season to lead a Music Discipleship Training School (Music DTS) in April 2023. (Context: DTS is a 5-6 month missions course focused on Knowing God and making Him known with 3 months of lecture and a 2-3 month outreach. This is the entry-level course for anyone who wants to join YWAM full time).

This invitation excited us, but we very thoughtfully discussed it with each other, our mentors and leaders here in Perth and in Texarkana, our parents, and of course the Lord. When we were first considering to lead this DTS in Paris, we didn’t anticipate leaving staff in YWAM Perth permanently. However, God spoke very clearly to us that this was the time for us to “leave the nest” at YWAM Perth and to step out in faith to a new thing He had for us as a family.

We had our official “last day” on staff yesterday. We are deeply grateful for the friendships, discipleship, teaching, opportunity, and the years of joy that serving with YWAM Perth has brought us. Joel was on staff for nearly 13 years, and for Abi, nearly 9. We met and fell in love here, began our marriage here, and became parents here. This is where we grew up in ministry, and really is our home. It is not a small or easy step forward for us to leave staff, but we feel confident and affirmed by God and our many friends here that this is the right step for us.

We will do another update at some point as a “reflection and gratitude” update, just to share about our years in YWAM Perth and to celebrate all God has done.

Our Upcoming Adventures to France

We are still committed to missions, and will be continuing this adventure in Paris, France! We have never been there, but we have many friends there. Paris is a unique place with many nations represented and plenty of opportunity to share God’s love.

The Discipleship Training School we’ll be leading begins on April 2nd. We are hoping to arrive in early March (yes, very very soon!). We know we will need some time to adjust and settle as a family in a new environment before the school begins.

We have applied for our visas to France and hope to receive acceptance letters soon.

We plan to be in Europe from March through the end of September. We’ll spend the first 5 months in France, and then we may have some outreach elsewhere in Europe (exact location not yet known). We will be seeking God’s wisdom for how to be involved in the outreach portion with our two small children. We’ll return to Perth afterwards, but we do not know what God will be saying for us next! All we know is this next step in Paris.

We haven’t purchased any flights due to not yet having our French visas and our financial need. We currently do not have the finances to buy these flights, but are trusting God with what He’s said to go to Paris. Would you pray for us in this way? If you feel to give, you can do so via this website or by contacting us directly. There’s never any pressure. We deeply appreciate your prayers.

Prayer Points

• God’s comfort, counsel, peace and joy as we transition
• Financial provision for our flights and for our time in Paris (if you would like more details on this, please contact us directly)
• Safety as we travel

This new chapter is very exciting for us! Yet at the same time, we are experiencing a full range of emotions, including the grief of change and transition, and joy and peace for what’s next. We greatly appreciate your partnership and friendship. Please never hesitate to reach out to us for any reason.

All the love,

Abi, Joel, Levi and Lily

9 minute read

Hey, everyone! It’s been a long time since an update. We hope you are all well. In this update you’ll read:

• Western Australia + Australian Lockdowns
• Worship Ministry and Songwriting
• Speaking on the Discipleship Training School
• Speaking on Youth Camp
• Life with “Our Babies”

Western Australia + Australian Lockdowns

We’ve been blessed here in Australia to have very few COVID-19 cases in comparison to the rest of the world. We’ve had a total of 4 lockdowns in Western Australia (our state) since the pandemic began.

This is obviously quite mild in comparison to many situations globally. What is quite strong though are the Australian and West Australian borders. The borders to Australia are shut, and if one leaves, there isn’t a chance that they’ll get back in very soon. The borders are completely shut to those residing in the USA. Western Australia has some of the strongest borders in the world, and there have been many situations where WA residents will have long delays in their return home.

All this to say, we are prayerful for the borders to open sooner than later. We’ve heard rumors of 2022, which we must say, is an incredibly difficult thought. Abi’s parents still haven’t met Lily, and we would love to visit you all in the USA. It simply isn’t an option for us right now, as we would have no guarantee to be able to return all together to Australia. We do miss you all, and appreciate your prayers!

Since we haven’t been able to go to the nations, our ministry focus as Youth With A Mission, Perth has been in Perth, Western Australia, and Australia. We’ve sent teams to all of those places, but the Gaytons personally have been doing ministry in Perth. Such as…

Worship Ministry and Songwriting

We’ve been keeping up with our songwriting, and we’re slowly building a collection to record and release. We’re really liking some of the songs that are coming out of it. We’re looking forward to showing them to you all! We

Much of life right now looks like songwriting, serving the staff and students on base by helping cook and clean (all ministries are doing this weekly right now), and leading worship. Joel also organises our worship team, facilitates our meetings, and repairs and purchases equipment for the worship ministry. We recently had a focused time of prayer to trust for more finances to replace a lot of equipment (much of our equipment is quite old and consistently breaking or giving us issues), and God provided finances for some new stuff! This is very exciting for us! This new equipment will serve the base for many years to come and we won’t have as many technical issues as we’ve been having. Abi is also rocking the mommy life throughout the week (so grateful for fun playgrounds!), but the babies do tag along with us at the base as well.

Teaching on Discipleship Training School

I (Abi) taught on one of our Discipleship Training Schools (DTS) this past May. I spoke for five days on worship and prayer. This was the second DTS that’s been run since April of 2020 (usually YWAM Perth runs multiple DTSs every three months), so it was exciting to be teaching again! It was nice to mix up the normal routine, and also to recall all the things I’ve learned about worship and prayer over the years and pass on that knowledge. I really enjoy teaching!

Speaking on Youth Camp

At the start of this month, we as a family traveled 1.5 hours south of Perth to serve at a youth camp. It was a 4-day long camp, where the youth played lots of games but also listened to teaching from me (Abi). I was asked to speak about being “unswerving” in our relationship with God. I’d never taught on anything like that before, but as I sat to prepare, God helped me remember all kinds of stories of His faithfulness, and how He taught me how to be faithful as well. I shared lots of stories how God has shown me His personal love for me, as well as how He’s spoken to me in the normal day-to-day life.

One youth didn’t know Jesus, and didn’t feel like they could relate to the teaching. They were growing up in a difficult situation, and didn’t think God could really love them, or that they could really trust God to be good. On the last day of the camp, one of the staff shared something with them that only God could have known, and this camper that had previously been making fun of other campers with their arms crossed, had tears in their eyes and started to believe that God really could love them. Wow wow wow! I believe that little seed is going to grow! There were also many other campers who were encouraged and made new commitments in their walks with the Lord.

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Life with “Our Babies”

“Our babies.” That’s what we call them! Levi consistently gathers his soft toys, which he calls, “my babies” sets them up for picnics in the living room or breakfast around the table, and puts them to bed. “Shhh, be quiet… my babies are sleeping!” he tells us!

It’s very busy with our babies, because they are gifted with adventure and energy! For a long time the first thing Levi said to us in the morning was, “Mom/Dad will you chase me?” Levi will be 3 in September, and Lily is nearly 8 months. She’s crawling around everywhere and now pulling herself up on everything!

There isn’t a lot more to say except for they’re amazing, they bring us a lot of joy, and here’s a ton of photos!

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Prayer Points

• Comfort as we continue to deal with hard borders and missing family and friends
• Wisdom and strength as we raise our children and grow together as parents and a couple
• Our children to continue to grow strong in every way
• Wisdom, creativity, and inspiration as we write songs
• Youth campers and DTS-ers to keep growing in their relationship with God

Thanks for taking time to read, and we especially thank you for your prayers and support!

With love,

Abi, Joel, Levi, and Lily

11 minute read

Our dearest friends and family,

We know 2020 was a difficult year for many. We do not want to downplay any of the tragedies or turmoil you, loved ones, or nations have experienced. But, as I (Abi) was listening to the Lord a recent morning, I felt Him say, “Today is a day of thanksgiving,” and I felt to write a personal update/summary of 2020, and take time to say, “thank you,” to our Father for this past year. As you read, I pray you also remember things in your own life where you can join me in thanking God.

” Rejoice always, pray continually,  give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

This update is a list of thanksgiving, including:

• God’s perfect timing in visiting the USA in 2020
• God’s faithfulness and revelation to us in “lockdown”
• God’s leadership and power in the very first Online School of Worship
• God’s grace and tenderness as we welcomed Lily Joy
• God’s leadership and timing for us to work together full time in the same ministry
• Prayer Points

This is a longer update (11 minute read), so feel free to skip around if you like!

God’s perfect timing in visiting the USA in 2020

Many may not know this, but it was not our plan to visit the U.S. for Christmas 2019/New Years 2020. We had already visited the previous year, and so far in our marriage we had spent every other year visiting the USA. Around July, I (Abi) had a very strong desire to see my family. It was a bit overwhelming, especially as my sister was due to have her little girl in August. Some months went by, and we held it in our hearts. We took time to pray, and without getting any answers of, “Yes, go!” or “No, don’t go,” God simply told us, “There is a reason Abi wants to visit her family this year.” We could have never anticipated the reason was that 2020 would be a year of global pandemic and we wouldn’t be able to visit for Christmas in 2020!

All within a short time, Joel’s parents unexpectedly ended up spending Christmas with family out of state, and a monthly supporter bought our tickets to come! We surprised my sister, and we spent good amounts of time with my grandparents, siblings, and parents. We were also able to meet up with many of our financial supporters and enjoy our church family at Church on the Rock.

Thank You, Father, that you know all things and not only gave us the desire but the means to visit our family in America before the pandemic went global. You also kept us safe as we traveled back home, including traveling through LAX. You are a good Father!

God’s faithfulness and revelation to us in “lockdown”

Here in Western Australia (our state in Australia), the virus has been quite contained. We understand that we are extremely fortunate and this is not the case in many cities and countries. I think the fact that our population is much smaller probably has something to do with it.

Consequently, our lockdown in 2020 wasn’t as extreme, and we were able to go to the grocery store for necessities (but yes, toilet paper was sparse here, too!), and we could go outside for exercise and some work related activities. This meant that for a large portion of the lockdown, Joel was away from home helping with a building project (masks and social distancing included). Joel and I have a very teamwork-style of parenting, and we work in the same building, and Levi was always with us! So, I’d never done the stay-at-home mum gig before.

Much to my surprise, in spite of being terribly ill with morning sickness (crawling on the floor to get to the snacks haha), I found great joy in being a stay-at-home mum for a short season! God showed me once again that my identity is not in my work, but also this work of caring for and raising children is just as productive and important. I deeply love Levi and Lily, but (being vulnerable here) the thought of being alone with them for hours on end freaks me out sometimes haha. God used that little season to show me that I’m not alone even when I am “alone” with the kids, and I can find fulfilment in that role as well.

This was also the time that God showed us that I would be leaving Worship for the Nations ministry and joining Joel full time in Worship Team ministry.

Thank you, Jesus, for showing me that I can do all things through you! I’m starting new ministry with Joel, but I’m definitely having more time with my kids these days. This is a blessing and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. You are a good Friend and Shepherd!

God’s leadership and power in the very first Online School of Worship

I won’t spend long on this because I’ve shared a good bit already, but this school was incredible! From the speakers, to the staff, to students… all around amazing! It’s so clear that it was God’s timing, because we need worship and prayer warriors across the globe now more than ever. I also love doing new things, so it was a major privilege to be a part of pioneering this online school.

Thank You for including us in such a good strategy to increase prayer and worship across the world this year, God! You are full of wisdom and power!

God’s grace and tenderness as we welcomed Lily Joy

Lily Joy essentially means “Pure Joy”, and wow, she has certainly brought that to our little home. These past six weeks have been a time of laughter and refreshing (even in the midst of tiredness).

My labour with Lily was only 5 hours, including only 7 minutes of pushing (as opposed to Levi’s 15 hours and 2.5 hours of pushing!). I had a couple of “false starts” the days leading up to it, so when I was actually in labour I felt a bit unsure if it was the real deal or not. But God kept speaking different times to me, and I knew it was “for real” this time. I started timing contractions at 11:30pm, and I heard God say, “At 12:00, get up and wake up Joel.” After a couple of hours of labour, I heard Him say, “3:30.” We called the midwife to go into the birthing centre, and she asked us to meet her there at 3:45, which meant we had to leave the house by 3:30am! As we arrived at the birthing centre, I heard Him say some encouraging words, and, “4:30. Baby is coming soon.” I thought, “4:30?! That’s not a lot of time!” Lily was born at 4:27am, Thanksgiving Day!

When it was all through, I thought, “If it’s this easy every time I can definitely have some more!” Because the labour was so short, I had so much more energy than I expected. She was also extremely easy to nurse, and we were refreshed and happy when we brought her home that morning to meet Levi. I won’t say it’s been a total breeze, but it has been incredibly full of grace and an ease I didn’t expect in having two.

Thank You, Holy Spirit, for Your encouraging words and perfect timing for Lily to be born! Thank You, God, for blessing us with Lily Joy! She of course fits perfectly into our family. You are a good and gracious God.

God’s leadership and timing for us to work together full time in the same ministry

Christmas and New Year are over, Lily Joy is six weeks old, and I’m feeling good. We got more officially started on ministry this week, and even though we’re juggling our babies a bit, we are still getting songwriting done. I have much hope and anticipation for what God will bring about in this! I am looking for and expecting the extraordinary in the seemingly ordinary.

Thank You, Father, for Your perfect leadership and timing. You are a patient, compassionate, and inspiring Leader!

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Prayer Points

• Fresh perspective and anointing as we write songs
• Continued health in Western Australia (we just finished a 5-day mini lockdown; can read more on my Facebook with the picture of us in masks, or I can personally update you if you email or message me!)
• Renewed hope and assurance of God’s leadership in our lives, and yours, too
• God’s will to be done in the nations in 2021. Missions isn’t finished yet.

Thanks for taking time to read this! We love you, we appreciate you. Please don’t hesitate to send through your own prayer requests for this year.

Be blessed in abundance,

Abi, Joel, Levi, and Lily

7 minute read

Hi friends and family, thanks for checking out our update! Here’s what you’ll read in this one:

• School of Worship Online was a success!
• Ministry Life
• Levi is 2! (photos of this cutie included)
• Baby is coming soon! (photos of very pregnant Abi included! Haha)

School of Worship Online was a success!

Thanks to everyone who prayed for us during this Online School of Worship! The SOW finished up in September and was a major success in the fact that we heard so many testimonies of what God was doing in individuals’ lives throughout the school. Not only were people personally blessed and challenged, but God gave opportunities to the students to apply what they were learning in their own locations all across the world. That means there was strategic worship and prayer happening in 6 countries at once (often simultaneously) over a period of 3 months! We’re sure students will continue to apply what they learned. Something else that was very exciting and fun was we had 3 Texarkana residents participating in the school as well, including Abi’s mom! God is so worthy of worship from everyone everywhere and this was such a special season to see this happen in a new format.

The school was certainly a challenge for us as a family, with funny hours because of time differences and Abi being pregnant, along with our very active toddler. We were often tired, but God’s grace was there and we count ourselves privileged to be a part of the first YWAM School of Worship to run online. We learned a lot and are really grateful for your prayers and words of encouragement.

Ministry Life

Something new for us in this upcoming season is that Abi has changed ministries. After being a part of pioneering and providing leadership in her previous ministry, Worship for the Nations, for five years, God has led us and given us opportunity to work directly together as a couple. Abi is now joining Joel full time in the base worship team. This ministry has a lot of applications and vision, but the main things include songwriting, worship team development (musicianship and leadership), and mobilisation (calling people into the mission field, particularly through music).

This has been a growing dream and ours for a couple of years now, particularly in the area of songwriting. We’ve been writing songs together for some time, however, things were pretty limited with what we were able to do since Abi was so heavily involved in Worship for the Nations. We know this change is God’s perfect timing, and we’re excited to see how God develops it. Abi is currently at the end of her pregnancy, so things will really start to get into the swing after baby comes and things are more settled.

We’d love to chat to you more about this! If you have questions or just want to know more, please send us a message and we can chat!

Levi is 2!

Our little adventurous boy is two! He’s saying lots of funny things, is very sweet, INCREDIBLY active and is excited to meet the new baby! He’s definitely a two-year-old with two-year-old ways (expressing strong opinions and throwing tantrums here and there), but for the most part he’s a happy little dude. We love our boy and it was fun having a small celebration with his Aussie grandparents and visiting the zoo! His great-grandparents in the USA gifted our family Perth Zoo memberships for the year, so we’re looking forward to many more visits!

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Baby is coming soon!

Squish #2 is coming very soon! Abi is 38 weeks and 3 days pregnant today. We’re hoping baby comes any day now, as all is looking well and we’re very ready to meet our newest family member. We will find out if baby is a boy or a girl when they are born, so there’s certainly some excitement and anticipation there, too!

Prayer Requests

• Thank God for His work in the School of Worship, and that it would grow and continue in and through the students across the world
• God’s wisdom over us as we transition into doing ministry together and learning how to do that with two small children
• God’s blessing over Levi as he learns and grows as a two-year-old, and smooth transition into being a big brother
• Encouragement and strength for Abi as she finishes this pregnancy, labours, and transitions into postpartum
• Joy, wisdom and strength for our whole family as we welcome our newest little Gayton into the world

Thank you so much for your prayers, support, and encouragement. Currently the Australian borders are still closed, and we are missing you all. We are grateful for God’s leadership, provision and kindness in these unprecedented times in the world. We deeply appreciate you and pray that this wild year would end in joy and blessings for you all.

Much love,

Abi, Joel, Levi, and Baby

3 minute read

Hi everyone, we hope you are doing well and are very blessed in this unprecedented season we’re all in. Here’s a little update on us here in Perth.

What you’ll read in this update:

• Current COVID-19 update
• Running the School of Worship Online
• Baby #2 is on the way!
• Prayer requests

Current COVID-19 Update

Right now in Western Australia, things are going very well. We were in our homes for quite some time but have now been able to have some looser restrictions. There are very few cases in WA, and those are of people currently in quarantine because of travel. It is essentially not on WA’s streets anymore, but we’re still maintaining certain restrictions.

The most major restriction is that the Australian borders are closed, including those of our state. Because of this we are unable to travel, on outreach or elsewhere. Our ministries in YWAM Perth are finding creative, safe ways to reach out and stay far above reproach when it comes to our nation and state’s restrictions. It is not certain when the borders will be open again, but there are suspicions and estimates of closed borders until July 2021. Restrictions within WA were due to lift almost completely on July 18th (not including borders opening), however due to an increased number of cases on the east coast, that decision has been postponed until August.

YWAM Perth is currently able to gather in groups of 100. We gather in those groups for meals, staff meetings, and worship times. As the base worship team leader, Joel has had an exciting and somewhat complicated journey figuring out how to set up worship and livestream staff meetings for 3 groups of 100. We’re low on man-power but things are running smoothly by God’s grace!

School of Worship Online

One of the unexpected outcomes of this season has been that Abi is running an online School of Worship! This is Abi’s fifth school to lead, but first school online! Week 2 is just about to begin and it’s been off to a great start!

This particular school is unique because it is open to anyone and everyone, because there is no Discipleship Training School prerequisite. Because of this there is a total of 16 students (the most SOW in Perth has ever had in its 26 years running), and there are even some representatives from Texarkana among the students (including Abi’s mom)! It’s very exciting and both of us will be teaching in the coming weeks.

If you are interested in doing the school, you actually still can! It’s separated into 3 modules… Module A has already begun, but Modules B and C are still open to applicants. If you want to know more about it you’re welcome to read more information on the YWAM Perth website: https://www.ywamperth.org.au/further-accredited-training/school-of-worship-online

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Baby #2 is on the way!

That’s right! The second baby Gayton is due to make his or her appearance on November 21st! We are very happy to have this baby! Abi is 21 weeks along, and she and baby are both healthy.

Prayer Requests

• Continued wisdom and creative solutions for YWAM Perth during this season
• God’s blessing on the School of Worship: teachers, staff and students
• Continued protection over us as a family (including new baby)
• Encouragement and peace for Abi as she won’t be able to have her parents with her for the new baby’s arrival

Thank you so much for reading and for taking time to pray for us. We also thank you for your support during this time. We understand it’s a stretching season for everyone, and we’re truly blessed to have you.

Much love from Perth,

Abi, Joel, Levi and Baby

4 1/2 minute read

Hi friends and family, we hope you are all doing well in this very interesting, unexpected season. Here’s a little update on our family and Youth With A Mission, Perth.

What you’ll read in this update:

• YWAM Perth’s response to COVID-19
• Our day-to-day
• Prayer Requests

YWAM Perth’s response to COVID-19

It’s been a crazy few weeks! But we must say it’s been a blessing to be a part of a community with strong leadership that closely listens to the Lord and Australia’s governing authorities. Australia’s Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, has been taking many precautions and difficult decisions. He believes in God and prays for the nation, so we are blessed indeed!

We have postponed our training programs until further notice. This means the School of Worship (the school Abi leads), is postponed as well. It was due to run starting this week, but that changed a few weeks ago when the whole world did! We’re embracing the different season and keeping busy with our ministries.

As an entire base, we have now gone online. Worship for the Nations continues to function in online meetings and prayer groups, and Joel has been helping organise corporate online worship times, along with other odd jobs to help keep things running. Everyone is involved in plenty of prayer for the pandemic, not only in our city but in the nations around the world. It’s definitely still a busy season for us, but we’re beginning to get into a rhythm.

You can read YWAM Perth’s statement and keep up to date by looking at the website: http://www.ywamperth.org.au/covid-19-information

Our Day-To-Day

We have a very different routine these days!

We’re encouraged to go outside for walks/exercise, keeping within social distancing measures. This is good for our health in many ways, and it’s been nice to do some family bonding as we go on walks together. Levi is sad now and again when we have to say no to going on the playground, but he quickly perks up again when he sees a group of ducks… haha!

As mentioned before, ministries continue to function online, so there is plenty of communication and prayer going on within our ministries, as well as once a week as a whole base we have a live stream where we are led through a time of prayer for the pandemic.

We’re also trying to do some songwriting in any free moments we might have. Levi likes to grab his little ukulele or drum sticks and play along!

The Australian Government continues to communicate that this could go on for as long as six months (staying in homes except for exercise and in some cases, work).

Prayer Requests

• Continued health for us, and YWAM Perth (obviously everyone needs prayer, this is just “home” for us!)
• Our family’s development and growth as we adjust to a new routine, and while Levi is unable to interact with other children for a long time
• Wisdom for Australia’s leaders, and other leaders around the world

In case you haven’t seen it, here’s a link to the song Joel and I released with YWAM Perth Worship towards the end of last year! Even though we can’t physically reach out to people in this season, we know God does not hold back in His love and reaching out. We’ll continue to pray and reach out in ways that we can.

Thanks so much for reading, we miss you and are blessed by your prayers and support.

Abi and Joel

3 minute read

What a year! As we enter this holiday season we’re reminded of how blessed we’ve been to do this amazing life with the Lord, and and with all of you! Thank you for loving us, praying for us, and sending us to the nations! Here’s a look at what you’ll read in this update:

• Report of our time in Southeast Asia (2 minute video included!)
• Teaching here in Perth
• Live worship video release (one of our original songs!)
• Our year in photos
• Prayer points

Southeast Asia

We had an incredible time in Southeast Asia! We aren’t able to share the exact location online for the security of our contacts there, but wow what an incredible group of people to come alongside for 5 weeks!

We held worship and missions seminars, which provided training in:

• Biblical worship and prayer
• Scouting out your local area (learning how to recognize the needs and creating strategies to meet those needs both spiritually and physically)
• Sharing Jesus with your city

The nation we were in is a “closed” nation, meaning there are strict regulations in regards to holding church services and sharing the gospel, so we were very surprised at the incredible amount of response we saw in these seminars! Many people made re-commitments to the Lord, and many even made commitments to missions! These commitments came to life as we saw young people worshiping and praying in the streets of their city, and joyfully sharing the gospel and meeting the needs of people around them. We have so much hope for this nation! Thank you for sending us, and enjoy the photo gallery and video below!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRSEu2XoG2o

Teaching

We’ve had a lot of opportunities to teach this year, including Discipleship Training Schools here at YWAM Perth, and a Worship Workshop at one of Perth’s local churches!

We’ve really enjoyed teaching together this year, and we’re hoping to have more opportunities in the future!

Live Worship Video:

“You Do Not Hold Back”

We are releasing a live worship video this month as YWAM Perth Worship! Joel and I wrote this song with the desire to follow Jesus, and see others follow Him into the nations–it’s all about “keeping our eyes open” for what God wants to do in the world! We’ll put a link up when it’s released, so feel free to watch, worship, and share!

Our Year in Photos

Most of these are of Levi, but since he’s added so much adventure to our lives it’s hard not to take photos! It’s so neat to see how much he’s grown and everywhere we’ve been as a family!

Prayer Points

• Pray that God would continue to encourage and strengthen our friends in Southeast Asia as they put into practice what they learned in our seminars
• Pray that Jesus would use this worship video to draw people to Him and to the mission field
• Also please pray that we’d continue to grow in unity and joy as a family with every new season, and that we’d be attentive to His voice as He leads us into 2020!

Bless you all, Merry Christmas, and thanks again!

The Gaytons

4 minute read

Hey, everyone! Sorry this one took a while, life gets moving fast and next thing you know it’s May! Thanks for your patience! We’ve been very busy, and we’re excited to share more about it! Here’s what you’ll read in this update:

• Our first family outreach to Indonesia
• School of Worship is running strong!
• Our next overseas outreach!
• Indian Ocean Gateway
• Prayer Points

First Family Outreach

We went to Indonesia on a quick outreach! We joined Abi’s ministry, Worship for the Nations, for one week (we’re purposely keeping the location information vague because of security reasons). It was a really incredible time. We spent lots of time walking to key locations, praying, and encouraging our missionary friends there. Of course we were really encouraged as well! They are incredible and very committed to the people group they’re working with no matter how difficult the situation.

Levi did great! He is such a joy to our family and can’t wait to take him to other places God leads us to!

Worship for the Nations stayed for a bit longer, but we had to come back so Abi could prepare for the School of Worship that started in April.

(you can click on the photos for captions and a closer look)

School of Worship

The SOW has been going for 7 weeks and it’s been going really well so far! Abi has been leading the School of Worship since 2016, but this school has been around for 25 years in YWAM Perth! It’s a privilege to be a part of such an important and impactful school!

School of Worship provides training in the area of worship in a missions context. We look a lot at worship, prayer, evangelism, and scouting nations to provide accurate reports for future work in places that have a variety of needs (physical and spiritual). We also do a lot of song-writing with a strong missions focus! Joel just finished teaching on the school a couple of weeks ago, and Abi just finished teaching last week and will be teaching again next week! We’re very busy with the school, but the students are hungry for God and it’s very exciting to see them grow. They will make a big impact in their world!

The crew!

Our Next Overseas Outreach!

The School of Worship will be going to two nations in Southeast Asia from July to September. Unfortunately, we’re unable to say the specific nations on this website because of security reasons for our contacts.

We as a family will be going with the school for four weeks to one of these nations. We will be running a worship seminar for the local church there! It will include teaching on how to get to know and reach out to their area, the power of worship and prayer, and probably some song-writing in their own language that will serve them more as a church! We think it’s really important that nations write songs for God in their own heart language, rather than simply using a bunch of translated songs from English. Each language and culture has a unique expression to offer, and we want to encourage them in that! 

The rest of the team will head on to the next nation, to reach out to people with prayer and sharing about Jesus (plus whatever else God says to do), and to complete a mapping project that will be a helpful tool to the long-term teams at work there. We pray this map shows the needs of the area and helps them reach out more effectively.

We’re still trusting God for about half of our monetary needs for outreach, so please be praying for us! If you would like to contribute, please send us an email or a message on Facebook and let us know!

Indian Ocean Gateway (IOG)

We just wanted to quickly share again what God has called us to as Youth With A Mission, Perth. God has called us to the nations, but there’s a particular set of nations that He’s asked us to focus on. We call this group of nations the “Indian Ocean Gateway” (IOG). These are the nations that are surrounding the Indian ocean, and it’s Perth’s backyard! We believe this is God’s strategy for us as a mission, and we’ve been investing in these nations for many years! However, we’re stepping into a special season, attempting to go to every nation within two years (as a whole base). This doesn’t mean we won’t reach out to other nations during this time, but we will be making special efforts to reach out to every nation in the IOG. Would you please partner in prayer with us? We love our neighbors and they need to know and experience the love of God.

Prayer Points

• Provision for our next outreach, along with wisdom and fun with Levi (he’s crawling and eating solids now; things he wasn’t doing our first outreach!)
• Wisdom for Abi as she continues to lead the School of Worship
• Continued physical health and growth in the Lord as a family (especially Joel; he was sick with tonsillitis after our outreach in Indonesia) 

Thank you so much for your faithful prayers, support, and kind words to us! We can’t do what we do without you!

Abi, Joel, and Levi