We're normal people following God's unique & radical calling
We were going about our normal lives, working, hanging with friends, paying the mortgage, going to surf competitions - all the normal stuff, little did we know that God had different plans for us. Whilst in Uganda, Africa on our long awaited family trip before our kids started leaving home, God started speaking in radical ways to us all about a new direction. Catch the rest of the story on the video or narrative below.
Our story from New Zealand to Mexico
Whilst studying at YWAM Mazatlán, México, our creative friend Nelson produced this video capturing some highlights of our story.
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Sit down and have a read of our story ...
When I was a young and carefree twenty-two year old, backpacking through Africa I visited a place called Resthaven in Zimbabwe. It was a retreat for missionaries and pastors who were serving all over Africa.
As I looked at Resthaven God spoke the clearest I had ever heard. He said 'you won't be a missionary, but you will care for missionaries.'
Although it took a long time to play out that's exactly what happened, and after more than 20 years I had two crazy God dreams that lead us to pioneer the Olas Retreat and YWAM Cabo in Mexico.
Fast forward to 2015, to our home in New Zealand where I lived with my husband Brendan and our four children...
It was March 2015 when I woke from a dream unlike any I had experienced before. I've always dreamed, as most people do, but this one was different. It was so vivid and lingered long after I opened my eyes. I was compelled to write down all the details, which I had never done before.
The dream showed me walking out of an open, downstairs kitchen into what I knew was a missionary retreat. I was holding a tray of baking and smiling to Brendan. I saw a white two storey Spanish style building. There were red flowering bougainvillea (a flowering plant) and I could see the waves in the distance.
When I was writing down the details I pondered where this place might be. The building definitely looked Spanish in design, and it was obviously a warm climate with those beautiful red bougainvillea spilling everywhere, so I assumed it was Spain.
Three was one other curious detail that stayed with me. Throughout the dream I had a distinct feeling of being 'turned around'. Not physically dizzy, but somehow disorientated, as though I wasn't where I expected to be. It is difficult to explain, yet the feeling was strong enough that I included it in my notes.
After carefully writing down every detail, I tucked the pages away into my diary and waited to see if anything more would come of it.
Days passed. Then weeks. Then months. Eventually years.
Nothing happened, no follow up dreams. To say this tested my patience would be an understatement. Waiting has never been one of my greatest strengths. Every now and then i would open my diary and reread it. The dream remained as intriguing as ever, but there seemed to be no next step.
I didn't realize it would take 5 long years before the next piece of the puzzle appeared.
In 2020, after a season of God speaking to us about going to Mexico and serving alongside our kids, and trusting Him to work out the MANY details. We sold our business and headed to Mexico for a year to volunteer with YWAM (Youth with a Mission). In the first couple of weeks there both Brendan and I commented many times that we felt “turned around.” This was because the sun would now set into the Pacific, the opposite to our home in NZ; everything felt upside down. I reflected to Brendan that the only time I remember having this feeling was in my dream five years earlier.
Six weeks into our stay, I woke with yet another dream, again one that was so specific, I wrote down the details and dated it.
This time I dreamt that “Our missionary retreat and YWAM base would be between 50 and 55 minutes from Cabo.”
It felt crazy for many reasons. Firstly, we were new to YWAM and were just volunteers, and secondly, I knew nothing about the city of Cabo - just that it was south on the Baja Peninsula in Mexico, about 20 hours drive away, and we had no plans to go there.
But, of course, Covid has changed plans for us all, disrupting travel, the whole world making alternative arrangements ‘for life’. Covid turned our plans upside down, and we decided to head south to another YWAM base in Mazatlan, for a three month ministry school. We took three weeks to journey there, camping around the Baja Peninsular, sleeping on beaches, checking out quaint villages, surfing, and having quality family time, before going to cross over to mainland Mexico on an overnight ferry.
We explored a lot on this three week trip and did have a few days in the city of Cabo, the city in my dream. We finished our journey towards the YWAM base with a stop at a hostel/campground called ‘Surf Camp’, which a number of people had recommended to us. We had a fun three days there, packed up on our final day, ready to head off to catch the ferry to mainland Mexico.
Before jumping in the car, I went and thanked the owner of the ‘Surf Camp’ and told him how much we enjoyed our stay. We had learnt he sold Real Estate, so as a tongue-in-cheek parting comment, I asked him if he could please find us a hotel to buy for missionaries to stay at!
Surprisingly, he said that he actually had a hotel for sale, but I explained we were leaving in an hour! Not fazed, he invited us to meet him at the hotel in half an hour, so we did a frantic pack up and met him there. It was the most amazing experience of deja-vu. As we walked into the property I started nudging Brendan, whispering ‘this is the place I saw in my dream 5 years ago’, while of course, trying to look totally uninterested to the real estate agent!
As we hopped back into the car I couldn’t quite believe that the details from my dream from five years ago had been played out right here, in front of my eyes. I asked Toby to look on his phone at how far it was from the hotel to Cabo, remembering in my dream it had said between 50 and 55 minutes. Google maps told us that the trip was 53 minutes!
God is so specific with every detail. We are still stunned when we see how He led us so clearly to live and work in Mexico. He has grown our hearts for this place, and confirmed every step and His timing, time and time again.
We now call Cerritos home, located in the southern Baja Peninsular, Mexico.
The Olas de Cerritos Hotel/ Olas Retreat is owned by a Not for Profit entity. The Olas Hotel, home of the Olas Retreat welcomes Missionaries, Pastors and Christian Workers from around the globe, to come here to be refreshed.
Incredibly, what could only have been God, we were gifted a block of prime land in Cerritos (just 3 minutes walk from the Olas Retreat) to be used for pioneering YWAM Cabo. Buildings have now been constructed and 6 large glamping tents erected to host groups of youth, outreach teams and church groups.
We are currently recruiting a team to help grow the YWAM Base and ministry.
We are so excited to see what the Lord is going to do next!
Thank you for taking the time to read our story. It’s an ever changing, growing journey, learning to hear God clearly and follow his directions. He has been teaching us to trust him for the next step, like Psalm 119:105 says “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” We have been learning that a lamp only illuminates a few steps ahead, it’s not a high powered spotlight that shows the entire path and destination, but with God, we can trust Him that the big picture – the map – is securely in His hands.
We can’t do this alone; we really value our friends and family that are on this journey with us, and who lend so much support and kindness, prayers and encouragement.