Remembering 2010, Looking towards 2011
Hello Family & Friends,
Happy New Year!
Much has happened in 2010 that we would like to briefly share with you some snippets from our lives. Enjoy!
Eli Lee, Our Baby 
Eli is 14 months now and he is such an amazing baby. He is blabbering away in his baby talk and has learned several words so far. At the moment, Eli really likes saying “car” and “cat” with an extra-strong “T” sound at the end. He is also walking and trying to run at times. Whenever he hears music he starts dancing and he really loves food! He also likes talking on the phone to whoever is on the other line. It truly is amazing to see how joyful Eli is and how much delight he brings to those around him. It really is a pleasure to be his parents and to watch him grow.
Discipleship Training School
It has been a great privilege to have run 5 Discipleship Training Schools in the past few years.
This past year Sam started off with visiting our Justice DTS team in Argentina for few days, encouraging them to finish strong in their outreach. Recently, another team was sent to Haiti & Dominican Republic. The team was able to serve in Port-au-Prince and was also there during the Cholera outbreak. Thankfully everyone was ok in the midst of it and was able to distribute water during the crises. It was great to hear the real impact they were able to make in the people’s lives in Dominican Republic and Haiti. It truly has been an honor to teach, disciple and serve the students this past few years.
YWAM’s 50th
2010 was the 50th anniversary of YWAM. We had a celebration conference in November in the Dominican Republic and while there we were able to meet up with the DTS team we sent. We all were able to hear from Loren & Darlene Cunningham (YWAM Founders) as well as some of the notable leaders in our organization. It was inspiring to hear the different stories around the globe and what God is doing in the world. We were also privileged to run a breakout-session/workshop on “Social Injustice” more specifically in the Caribbean context. The session went well and we were blessed to see people with a similar heart for God’s justice to shine through. All in all, conference went well and it was a pleasure to be around such great friends from the Caribbean.
A Chapter Coming to a Close
As you may know, our commitment to YWAM Barbados is coming to an end as 2010 draws to a close. It has been amazing times as we have witnessed young lives transformed and as even our own faith in God have been challenged and developed.
We are very grateful to the YWAM Caribbean Leadership, the Board of Directors and especially for David Harper, Martin and Ann-Marie Rice for giving us the opportunity to lead the YWAM campus/base in Barbados at such a young age. These are people who truly believe in the youth and we appreciate them and the time we had in Barbados. Martin & Ann-Marie decided to come back to leadership earlier this year and we have been working together to ensure that there is a good solid transition of leadership and for us to leave the campus in the best possible state. We really are going to miss YWAM Barbados and will continue to help as we can in the future.
Moving to America
Earlier in 2010, Sam petitioned for Kezia’s immigrant visa for USA. It was a long and expensive process, but we had great friends who really helped us out, including Sam’s parents who came through with additional documents. A few weeks ago, Kezia got her Immigrant VISA! This has been such an answer to our prayers. This means that we will be moving to Florida very soon. (Eli already has his US passport.) Sam will go first to prepare things and will be there from the 14th of January then return to Barbados. We will move to our new home by end of January or beginning of February. There are still a lot of details to be worked out, but the two important areas are job and housing. So please pray for us and for a smooth transition. (To find out how you can help in our transition please click here)
The Future
So the question is what will we be doing? There are other brilliant opportunities for us to be involved with YWAM, but for now we want to settle down for a bit. We want to refocus. We want to pray and get some time to revive and debrief the last several years with YWAM. Sam came to do his DTS in 2002, staffed since 2003 and Kezia since 2004, so it has been good few years that we’ve been with the mission. Sam will be getting a job and finishing his business degree. Kezia will also be pursuing further education. At the same time we want to say that Missions and Justice are a calling on our lives. It is a strong part of our identity and destiny. Trust us when we say we are long-term missionaries. (There are prayer points at the bottom)
God’s Faithfulness
There have been many ups and downs this past year. There have been few difficult times for us in ministry, financially and in life. However, God has continued to provide and strengthen us through our many wonderful family and friends. In times of confusion and chaos, He brought peace and calm. In times of fear, He reminded us of His perfect LOVE. God has continued to speak to us in trusting him for everything and we mean everything.
As the New Year is here, remember God’s faithfulness.
Our Father is with us and He is with you.
Therefore, let’s boldly and in full confidence move forward into our future.
Peace & Blessings,
Sam, Kiz & Eli
Prayer Points
Please join us in prayer for:
- Wisdom and understanding for us as parents
- Eli to continue to grow and develop in good health and in the Lord
- An affordable apartment in a safe neighborhood
- A good job for Sam
- Finances for the move
- A healthy transition from missions and ease in settling into our next step
- Good home church we can be a part of
(To find out how you can help in our transition please click here)
Life Update – July 2009
Hello Family & Friends
Since our last update, quite a few things have occurred that we would like to share with you.
Trip to Toronto & St. Croix
Back in April, we went to Canada for a big missions conference called, the “Missionfest”. It was a great opportunity to share and promote missions and YWAM Barbados to the many that were interested. There were over 150 ministries represented and several big speakers. We were also able to see some friends that we haven’t seen in awhile, which is always great. All in all, this was a great trip even being Kezia’s first experience of North America and she liked it.
In May, I attended the YWAM Caribbean Strategy Conference in St. Croix. It was great to connect with the many leaders that make up YWAM Caribbean and to witness the launch of the new leadership structure for our region that has the potential for significant and positive changes in the years to come.
During this trip, we had the privileged opportunity to go to St. Thomas and visit the first Moravian Church in the Western Hemisphere. This was the place where the first Moravian missionaries sold themselves to slavery to bring the Gospel to the slaves in the Caribbean in the early 1700s. We spent some time in that island where many of these first missionaries were buried and spent time praying for the future of missions and for the young people of Caribbean to go into the Nations in the same passion as the first Moravian missionaries had.
Happenings at YWAM Barbados
Earlier this year we graduated our 2nd Justice DTS group after their outreach to India. It was a great yet challenging trip at times as some came back with lice and with fears of tuberculosis. They were all tested and they were all assured that they will be fine.
A new Youth Ministry initiative was also started where we have a weekly program in a local secondary school. We basically share devotionals and have a structured sports session. It has been going great to engage with mostly non-Christian and un-churched teen boys. We are hopeful that great relationships are being built and that we may able to have great impact in their lives as most of them have been labeled, “troubled youth”.
Baby on Board
If you haven’t already heard, we are overjoyed to share with you that Kezia is pregnant! As of now, she is close to 7 months and due early October. The first trimester was quite difficult with Kezia’s morning (sometimes all day) sickness, but now in her second trimester she is doing quite well and enjoying the pregnancy. The baby has also been kicking and punching and moving around a lot and it looks like we could have a potential kick boxer champion among us. We are very excited. So far it has been filled with wonderful experiences from the first ultrasound and hearing the baby’s heartbeat, to the first kick that we felt, to finding out that we are having a BOY! With the baby coming, we have been preparing and getting baby stuff, which is a very new and at times overwhelming experience, but overall we are having fun and are ecstatic.
Please pray for us as we are trying to bring everything together for the baby and leading our YWAM community/campus at the same time.
Prayer Points
- Thank God that the DTS team came back safe from their mission trip to India. Pray for the upcoming DTS in September that the students will be open to what God wants to do in and through them and that the staff would be able to truly work with the Holy Spirit’s doing. Also pray for the outreach to South America as they will be traveling to 5 different Latin countries in less than 3 months.
- Pray that God will keep on giving us and the Leadership of YWAM Barbados wisdom and humility as we continue to move the campus forward to the Call and Vision that God has given.
- Pray especially for Kezia and me as we will learn to balance family and leading YWAM Barbados. This will be a huge transition for us and we will need to be sensitive to God’s leading.
- Thank God that the baby has been healthy so far and pray that there won’t be any complications during labor and delivery.
- Thank God for His gracious provision as it seems He has been providing for all our needs in his good timing. Pray that God will continue to provide for us as we will need approximately $2,000 – $3,000 USD for labor, delivery and in preparation for the baby.
- Pray as we are also looking for a reasonably priced good used car as our family is growing.
Thank you for praying and thinking of us during these times. Without your prayer and support, it would be quite difficult to do what we do. We want to simply say we appreciate our family and friends who have supported us!
THANK YOU!
November 2008 Update
Hello Family & Friends,
It has been an eventful few months as we have transitioned as the leaders for YWAM Barbados with a new leadership team and with several new faces in our community.
This past summer, we sent a DTS team to a closed country in Asia and they have brought many good reports. They were shocked by just how many never heard the name of Jesus. The Students were sad to hear this, however also eager to share the Love of Jesus and the liberating Gospel to the new friends they made.
Then, they led a youth group from Barbados to Guyana in the Mission Adventures program working with the Hindu and Muslim community there.
The Justice focused DTS started in September. We had 8 students from Barbados, Trinidad, Nigeria, Canada, England, and Holland. We are honored to be part of the transformation that is taken place in their lives as well as excited to see how God will use them to impact Nations. They will be going to India for their outreach phase end of December.
Kezia’s father brought a construction team from St. Lucia and worked on the Great House (the main area) as it was in desperate need of renovation from termite infestation. It was great to see our family and friends involved and give their time to help us out.
My brother, Paul came by for a weekend and we were able to catch up a bit. I hadn’t seen him for little over a year and it was great just hanging out with him.
We want to thank our Family and Friends who have supported us financially and with much needed prayer. One of our friends recently reminded us how important it is to be supported by prayers, so we ask you to remember us in your prayer times as we continue to work for the Kingdom of God. :)
You can pray specifically for…
- Wisdom to lead YWAM Barbados and make decisions guided by the Holy Spirit
- Unity for the Justice DTS team going to India
Enjoy the photos from past several months!
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- Paul & Solomon
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- Paul tired from the flight
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- Trying to encourage Paul to jump off the cliff
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- Staff Training
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- Kezia leading a session for Staff Training
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- Kizzy, Katherine and a friend
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- Termite infested beams
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- Sam – Ready to shorten grass & kill weeds
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- Blitz trying to help me with the weed wacker
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- Game night on Campus
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- Game night on Campus
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- Justice DTS 2008-2009
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- Kezia’s dad figuring out the math for the flooring
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- Clearing out the old infested wood
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- Kezia with her sister, Kadeen
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- One of the main beams that was damaged from the infestation
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- Newly laid wooden floor
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- Our new floor!
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- Pile of termite infested wood from our Great House
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- One of our student taking this photo seriously
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- Celina – our accountant and on the weekends something else…
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- Our students hyped about working
We are ALIVE! – Africa Trip Update
We are not dead. We are alive and well and busy busy busy. And Busy.
This post is an update of our trip from South Africa and Namibia. Kezia will do a current update of our lives very soon.
All in all, it was an wonderful mission trip. We worked with AIDS/HIV children, prison ministry, worked with refugees, and etc. It was a growing experience to lead this team of 6 girls with my wife. Too much estrogen at times, however I managed to survive with the grace of God.
In South Africa, we did various ministries from working with children in informal settlements to working in the streets of South Africa with refugees and those suffering from extreme poverty.
We worked with children in a settlement called Barcelona in Cape Town. Let me explain the concept of a settlement for those who may not know. After apartheid, millions of non-whites were forced to vacate their homes. From this settlements emerges. Just imagine one house less than 20×20 that has to house 5 to 10 people. Imagine that one house multiplied by the thousands.
In Barcelona we basically ran a Vacation Bible School, teaching them songs, playing games with them, loving on them, as well as feeding them. I was surprised to learn that the meal we gave them could be the only meal they would receive for that day. Those children never hesitated to offer you a smile and a warm hug. Unemployment in Barcelona was high at 70% to 80%. You can imagine the poverty as well as the violence. I was also met an refugee from Zimbabwe, who came to South Africa because of the bread shortage and lack of employment opportunities.
In Namibia, we worked with a school that takes in orphans, AIDS/HIV children and children at risk. Sometimes we would visit their houses and see how their family were doing. We visited one family, where the grandmother was taking care of the kids with her pension, because their mother died of AIDS just few weeks ago. The grandmother was also suffering from asthma and was still managing to feed her grandchildren with the little money she had.
Another house we visited, the mother was a recovering alcoholic and their family was living in a shack with one single bed with 3 children. Her children could not go to school because the mom spent most of their money on alcohol. She kept blaming herself for their situation. Then, we went to visit another house to find the mom wasn’t there. We found out later that she stabbed somebody couple days before and was hiding. There wasn’t much police work being done in their poor neighborhood, because in these places, the police only protect the rich and the elite, not the poor and the destitute.
We were very much touched by the people of South Africa and Namibia.
One of the things that we are doing now is praying about the possibility of starting some sort of initiative of an HIV/AIDS orphanage. Obviously, it will take some time, but we are praying for a team of people who has the heart for these children and who will able to commit their time and energy.
Please join with us and pray for this initiative.
Life & Africa trip
Life has been pretty busy lately. Many changes are happening. Some are exciting, some are lame, and all around I have not been bored with life.
One of the bigger changes in life is that Kezia and I will be leading the YWAM community here in Barbados starting mid-March next year. Our current base directors / leaders, Martin & Ann-Marie Rice will be taking a sabbatical and have asked us to lead in their place. With much prayer and conversation we have decided to take on this initiative.
This will be taken on with much excitement, but also with much caution.
As we (Kezia & I) continue to pray and converse for next year, we will let you know the new plans and projects we have in mind for our YWAM community and life in general.
Our Africa trip is coming along nicely, but we still need more money.
We are in need of roughly about $4,000USD. So, we need about 80 people giving us $50 each or 40 people giving us $100 each. Here is visual picture.
Prayerfully consider giving to the team. If you do decide to give please go to the Donate page and Paypal us (and as soon as possible), or if you know Paul (my brother), you can give it to him and he will put it directly into my bank account.
Obviously, if you are in Barbados, you can give the donation to us personally.
For more info regarding the Justice Discipleship Training School… Just Click Here
For outreach, we will be in Cape town and Namibia, working with prison ministries, children at risk, but predominantly with AIDS / HIV orphans.
Very exciting stuff, as we look into the possibility of partnering with a ministry there to either help a current orphanage or starting a new one specifically for AIDS/HIV orphans.
Anyways, I hope all is well with you and have a good day or night.
Thank you,
Samuel & Kezia Lee
Life Update – November 2007
I know it has been a while since we’ve put out an update. Actually this would be the first time Kezia and I are putting a news update together. We’ve been quite busy since, and you can see that in the prior posts that Kezia has put up already. I just want to thank all the wonderful people who’ve been supporting us through prayers, monetary gifts & so much more and for those who are continuing to do so.
Here are some of the many projects we’ve been working on or working towards.
Justice Discipleship Training School
Kezia & I are leading the current DTS focused specifically on social injustice in the world. We have designed the school to precisely have a focus on the many wrongs that are done. Our inspiration for carrying this school is from James 1:27 which says: “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.”
There are 9 students, which is a manageable amount for our first school. The students are from Jamaica, Barbados, United States, Canada, England and Switzerland. We have 2 outreach teams; one will go to Belo Horizo nte, Brazil to work with street kids and the other team will go South Africa & Namibia to work with HIV/AIDS orphans. Kezia and I will be leading the Africa outreach and we are extremely excited being able to do this together. We’ll be flying out on the 29th of December to Johannesburg, South Africa and will return to Barbados by the end of January.
Justice Concert: Love & Music
Kezia had an idea earlier this year about having a big concert. We’ve thought through the idea of it and decided to do a charity concert. On February 15th, there will be an event with the tag line, “Campaign Against Social Injustice”. This concert will have a “Live-8” feel and here are the 2 main goals for it.
The first goal is to raise public awareness of the social injustice in the world. To let people know that there are 12 million AIDS/HIV orphans in Sub-Saharan Africa, that there are 2 kids trafficked every minute for sexual slavery, that there are so much injustice in the world and that there is something we all can do to fight against these injustices.
The second goal is to raise funds to give to various charities from AIDS orphanages in Namibia to Rescue houses for street kids in Brazil to our very own charitable organizations here in Barbados.
We are trying to market this alongside Valentines weekend, with the angle of not just loving your mate, but to love those who don’t have anyone to love them.
Anyways, there are tons of other stuff that we can share with you, but here are some prayer requests…
- Pray for wisdom for Kezia and I in terms of leadership for this school and outreach
- Pray for our fund-raising to go well. For Kezia and I alone need about $5,500USD for outreach to Africa(including airfare, visas, food, transportation, etc)
- Pray for the concert “Love & Music”. We need an international artist. We need favor for this as we are targeting 2,500 people to show up for this. We need favor from our potential sponsors. All proceeds are going to charities, nobody is getting paid.
- Pray for the strengthening of our marriage as we undertake all of those responsibilities and the many more to come.
Thank you guys for your prayers, support, and love.
Welcome…again
Welcome to our new blog. Apparently married couples share everything so we thought we would share our blog as well. It’s been long time coming for this update but I’m sure you will be thrilled to know what Sam and I have been up to on a more regular basis.
So welcome to our new blog and we hope that some of you can get to know me better and some of you get to know Sam better.
Hear from you soon!!
