Married Newsletter

Bunch Wedding

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Honeymoon in Savannah, GA

We are home from our honeymoon in Savannah, GA. We fell in love with this historic city and wanted to share a little bit of our adventure and what we learned :)

We stayed 2 minutes from the Atlantic Ocean... we got up real early to watch the sun rise:)

Take a look at these mossy trees! This is what we think of when we hear about Savannah. We learned that the moss is actually an air plant that doesn't grow from the tree, but is drifted through the air and builds up on the trees.

When we arrived in the city we saw a lady making these flowers out of palm leafs. We were amazed as she weaved to create a rose! Being new to the city, we gave in and bought one not knowing we could find them throughout down town.

We ate on the roof of the Bohemian Hotel, and this was our view!

We ate at many great local restaurants. Uncle Bubba's is one of the Paula Dean restaurants. It was very good... we had shrimp, scallops and crabcakes! Other restaurants we ate at were: The Cotton Exchange & The Pirates House.

DeWayne had planned for us to take a carriage ride through down town. We trotted through the stone roads of Savannah learning about architecture, where certain movies were filmed, which places are haunted, etc.

This is the steeple that the feather flew by in Forest Gump. The part where he was eating a box of chocolates is also in Savannah. The bench isn't there, but the memory is...

If you went to our wedding, you would know that we love honey! We gave away honey as a wedding favor. In the city one of our favorite shops was called 'The Savannah Bee Company.'

There you could sample 6 different types of honey. They have two stores down town and one on the island.

-Shelves full of honey

Meet the waving girl. This statue is of a lady named Florence Martus who used to stand at the entrance of the harbor and wave ships in with her handerchief in the day, and a lantern at night. She did this for 44 years and it's estimated she welcomed about 50,000 ships.

The weather was perfect; in the 70's. We celebrated DeWayne's birthday on the 14th. We really had a great time. We have lots more pictures and memories to share if you'd like to hear them. Love, The Bunch's!

Short Update!

We have been busy planning a wedding and planning a trip to Africa. These next 6 months in our lives will be extremely crazy (crazy=good/busy). We get married next weekend (What?!) We are thrilled in God's timing and have seen extreme growth come from waiting on Him.

We will be taking November and December to travel ( 7 states total!) We will be visiting family for the holidays, and are looking for opportunities in between adjusting to married life, to meet with people and share our heart for Africa.

God has been faithful and our hard work has payed off. We are half way there! We have BOUGHT our plane ticket to South Africa and now need 2 round trip plane tickets to Zambia and need to cover living expenses when we are there. We will be doing a mixture of ministry, visiting friends while there, and honeymoon to Victoria Falls.

We arrive back at YWAM after our holiday travels to live for a month from Dec 27th- Jan 20th.
We fly out to Africa on January 20th- March 7th.

Thank you!

"Who's gift is this?" This is a picture of me (Tara) taken at the Bridal Shower that my mom threw me in Wisconsin. I had a wonderful time visiting with all of my friends who could come. Thank you again for all the gifts given! I know DeWayne appreciates them too, and we can't wait to have a cozy place to call home where we can use some of these gifts!

I also appreciate those of you who take time one on one with me, to really prepare me to be a godly wife. Who pray for me and give me advice and answer my questions. This season in life is the most transitional I've ever experienced, and it's a beautiful time as we watch as God prepares us to be ONE. It's not always easy, in fact hard work at times, but who said it would be easy? Please continue to pray for us as God prepares the way.

5 years and counting

It has been five years now since I (Dewayne) have joined staff at YWAM Nashville. To celebrate, the staff went down to The Old Spaghetti Factory and had dinner and a time of reflection.

We as YWAM Nashville have traveled to16 countries, led 208 people to the Lord for the first time, seen 20 people healed, ministered to 6,267, and had 76 students at the Adams YWAM campus all in the past year. I also got encouraged by fellow staffers and received a nice YWAM hoodie.

Step into Africa

Last weekend we were transported to Africa! Well, not completely but in a sense. World Vision put on an African exhibit at a church in Nashville. We got to walk in the shoes of an African child living in an AIDS affected community. In one way it was a little piece of home to us, in another way it was an eye opening experience of the heart break that can go on in children across the globe.
Room by room we were led by an audio story describing our child's life. At one point we were in the hospital waiting to get the results if we were HIV + or - because we had been taking care of the family member with AIDS. At the very end we got to pray for our child.

This exhibit made us miss Africa even more and we anticipate going on our first trip early next year. Please continue to pray for the remaining details.... like when we should go, pray for the Lord to provide finances, pray for the Lord to unite our heart with details for long term work in Africa.

Preparation for Africa;)

Record high temperatures here in Tennessee!
DeWayne took this picture while having to work outside for Maintenance. Tara's air conditioning is out in her room...

It's just God's way to prepare us for Africa:)

She said Yes

This is the field that DeWayne proposed to Tara in. If you read our blog story about the proposal, you'd know that this is called the "Field of Promises"

Performing Arts Camp

We have been in Nashville working in Performing Arts Camps for two weeks. In the camps there were youth and children from the area, some of which were flood victims and have been displaced from their homes since May. We as a whole taught dances and songs that would be performed for their families and friends at the end of the week. DeWayne worked as security and did other behind the scene things while Tara was with the 4-7 year olds. It was fun while it lasted and God did many things in our hearts during our stay in Nashville concerning calling and His timing for things in our lives. Living at the base its not often that there is an opportunity to work with people outside of YWAM, however we are also happy to be back, learning to be content in everything.

Prayer Needs

Prayer needs:
+To be content in all things
+Finances for wedding and Africa trip and monthly support
+Direction for life after marriage
+Peace in relationships
+Unity in decision making for wedding
+Preparation for what it means to be a godly husband/wife
+Grace during Performing Arts Camp (see below)
+To trust and believe God for His word
+Against fear of man to plan our wedding the way we want vs. want tradition and culture has made it


Next two weeks...
We will be involved in a Performing Arts Camp. The heart behind this camp is to engage kids in the arts and expose them to the Gospel. It will be targeting on flood ravaged areas to give the kids a bright spot in their summer. The will be learning show tune type songs and dance moves. Pray for opportunity to speak into the lives of the participants and their families. There will be all kinds of religions there. Tara will be working with the kids ages 4-6. DeWayne will be on security.

Field of Promises

We are engaged! The day started with a town picnic in Adams with the locals and we stopped at some yard sales on the way to Nashville. In Nashville we walked around the Green Hills Mall. We had an early dinner at Carrabba's Italian Grill. At night we went to the fireworks by the river in Clarksville. The night ended with a proposal at the YWAM campus. Now we will tell the story from our perspectives.

DeWayne's Point of View
I found the ring a while back and thought that I would never be ale to buy it because it was pricey. However, I also did not feel that the Lord was wanting me to ask for money, so i just prayed. The whole time Tara was worried I wouldn't have a ring and finally God settled in her heart that it doesn't matter if she gets a really expensive ring. I've joked around using paper clips, key rings, a blade of grass, scissor handle, etc...which didn't help her anxiety. About the same time she let go of the desire for a nice ring God dropped the dough on from what seems out of nowhere. So I gave the money so they could start making it and it took 3-4 weeks before I got it. The night of the proposal came after a day of quality time. I took her to the base where I felt God wanted me to ask her. I was thinking anywhere was fine that day because it was special, but God let me know that the best place was at the swings and in the Field of Promises.
The swings is the place Tara and I first spent time together and also the place that I hinted to her that I liked her before we dated. The night we talked was a warm night in December and I was constantly seeing shooting stars... The Field of Promises, as I called it when I proposed, is a field at base, out in the country, where there isnt much light. This field is special because one night Tara and I went for a walk and stopped there and enjoyed the view. As we were there it started sprinkling and I told her that I loved her for the first time. The rain was God speaking, confirming our relationship to Tara.
Arriving at the base I asked her to follow me. I reminded her of the time in the parking lot where we had encouragment from God about our heart for Africa. We walked down to the swings to remenice and then we walked over to the field and I expressed my feeling to her and how special she is to me, and there in the tall grass under the stars I kneeled down and asked her to marry me. The Field of Promises!

Tara's Point of View

The Lord has been working on my heart for months about trusting that DeWayne is hearing from the Lord with the timing of the engagement. It's so hard to let it go and not be in control. We both already knew we were supposed to be married from the beginning and to walk in patience and self control with His timing has been a challenge.

Yesterday I walked throughout the day with nervousness and anticipation. I'm pretty good at picking up on surprises and since he made the whole day so special, I figured something was up, and was hoping this would be the day! I had a nervous giggle and a shyness about myself the whole day, not wanting to walk in expectation but learning to be content with when and how it would happend and where it would happen.

At the restaurant I was thinking "Will he propose here?!" it was a fancy restaurant, friendly, beautiful environment with amazing foods, but i figured he'd know better than to propose to me in a restaurant ;) Next was the fireworks, very nice- was kind of suspicious when he kept looking at me telling me he loved me and getting teary eyed (not that unusual but i had my questions!) From the fireworks to the base I saw a outlined box in his pant pocket. I accidentally asked, "What's that box?!" he distracted me, sneaky!

We arrived at the base and as you read above from the parking lot to the swings was very special. Once we walked to the field I was getting my hopes up. The field was a special place for us. He told me he loved me in german in the beginning of our relationship. Also it was a misty night back then and the Lord used the rain to remind me of something I did out of faith for this relationship even before we were dating. A friend of mine said "What you did reminded me of the parable from the movie Faith Like Potatoes" --Basically there are two farmers. One plants his seeds in PREPARATION for the rain, the other waits. That night as it started to rain the Lord said, "The rain has come" ...meaning, we were entering into a new season for our relationship and the Lords faithfulness was so clear, it was another confirmation of being together. This place was special to me, and I was honored DeWayne chose this spot.

He poured out his love for me, complimenting me and sharing with me areas of faithfulness in my life that has inspired him. He also shared about how there are moments with Gods beauty that takes his breath away, and how when he thinks of me, he gets a similiar feeling. The rest of the words remain between us and God. He got down on his knee and asked, "Tara Elizabeth, will you marry me?" and I said YES:) He said, "Babe, look at how God provided!" as he opened the ring case. It was the ring he had picked out that i loved. God IS faithful!

Short Term Team in Nashville

Passion Play (Crucifiction of Jesus)

This past week at the base we had groups from churches (from other states) doing short term outreaches. On the first night we did a suprise passion play after having a service on purity, and living a life whole heartily for Christ. We had a time of repentance of sins, and at the end of the message we took the audience on the journey of the people witnessing the crucifiction.

Afterwards we had a time of talking and praying with the groups. A group of our youth from church also joined us, and It was nice for them to be apart of what we were doing. We got to pray for those who do and don't know the Lord -it was a beautiful moment and we believe the youth left transformed.

DeWayne was Simeon (carried the cross) and John (a comforter), and Tara was one of the ladies with Mary (a comforter).

Flood Relief

Friday we went down and helped the team with cleaning a house in Nashville that had been damaged by the waters. DeWayne and Tara were helping clean out the belongings destroyed by the flood in the back garage while the others did demolition in the house. The woman we were helping was really blessed by our work.

Driving through affected neighborhoods reminded us slightly of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. We saw a house that had been lifted off of its foundation, piles of evidence of cleaning out houses, and some houses had waterlines on.

We have overheard the people of Nashville feeling forgotten. We were there to give them hope, one person at a time-YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN.

Volunteer Work / Teaching Missions

Ministry-

There are times when we don't have to "go into all the world" to reach the nations, because the nations can be in our backyard. We volunteered to manage the ticket booth and sell t-shirts at the Nashville mini World Cup. There were teams represented from all around the world- from Mexico to Swaziland to Sudan to the Congo, and many more! For us it was refreshing to be amongst internationals again...we openly handily ask God if He'd like us to get more involved in the international population in Nashville? And if so-to lead and guide us.Church-
On Sunday we got to be the guest missionaries for the children of Red River AG. Our main message represented was spreading the gospel through understanding and accepting the differences in different cultures. We went through some of the differences in the places we've been. Acknowledging that just because people do things different, doesn't always mean it's wrong. Going into a different culture we need to be open hearted and have humble spirits to understand WHY people do the things they do. Love people for where they are. And bring the Truth accordingly. The children were a blessing to us, and I'm pleased to know that some are already called to missions!

Welcome

Welcome to our new blogspot! Our heart is to keep you connected to the work of God in our lives. We’ll use this website to document what God is doing in us personally, and as a YWAM campus. We’ll share with you testimonies, praise reports and ways you can be praying for us.We wanted a creative way to share with you, the people that help make this all happen. Thank you for joining us in making HIStory, as we walk in obedience to the calling on our lives.