I have no idea where to start this update. A lot has happened. Good stuff. Not such good stuff. If I’m being completely honest with you, I’ve been having a difficult time lately. I’ve been trying to write this update for about a month and a half now but every time I finish it, I delete it because I don’t like it. I wrote about awesome things that the Lord did while I was in Haiti and other cool stories the Lord is doing in my life and the lives around me.
A lot of times as a full-time missionary, there is a big pressure to always act like everything is ok – like we have everything together. I’m going to let you in on a little secret. We don’t. We are normal people and we aren’t always perfect.
A lot has happened lately. I led a team back to Haiti to partner with YWAM St. Marc in their earthquake relief efforts. I visited my family & friends in Minnesota and I also found out I had skin cancer. Most recently, I broke up with my girlfriend, Jacque. It’s definitely been an interesting ride lately.
So, what do I talk about from here…?
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| Food Distribution in the Refugee Tent Cities in Port-au-Prince, Haiti |
Haiti was good. It was a difficult outreach but an amazing one at the same time. We did various different things, including: food distribution, tent city/refugee camp ministry, English lessons with refugees, a house build and more. Most importantly though, we saw the Lord transform lives around us. One of the students that went with us is now planning to go into full-time missions to Haiti. It’s so cool to see the Lord grab someone’s heart and also so encouraging when that person is willing to go and follow the Lord!
I also recently had the opportunity to go back to my hometown. It’s always fun to go back to Grand Marais to spend time with my amazing family and friends. While I was in Grand Marais, I had a doctor appointment to check out a dark spot on my finger that I’ve had for about a year. The doctor did a biopsy of it and the pathology report came back saying that it is a piece of skin cancer (don’t worry, it isn’t serious). The hardest part about this isn’t having the skin cancer. That can easily be treated. I could care less about that. The difficult part is that I want health insurance but am not able to get it. Even though it’s been a burden, the Lord has connected me to a few doctors willing to help so it will be taken care of sooner than later. Praise the Lord!
A few days ago, I broke up with my girlfriend, Jacque. It has been a very rough time since then but the Lord is teaching me a lot. I’m not going to go into a two page detailed reason of why we broke up but I will briefly explain it. Basically, I felt the Lord was saying to me that I was going to her for comfort, healing, acceptance, etc. It was almost like I was replacing God with Jacque. God was telling me that I needed to come to Him for healing and for comfort, etc. He wanted me to fully surrender to Him. I fought with this for a few days and tried to do this on my own and make our relationship work even better under my own strength. After the Lord convicted me again of it, I had to talk to her about it. It was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do in my life, but I wanted to be obedient to the Lord. We’ll see what happens in the future. Even though it has been extremely difficult and I didn’t want to do it, the Lord has been teaching me a lot. One of the things He is teaching me is to simply cling to Him and rely on Him for everything. He has been giving me such a desire and hunger to search after Him at every chance I can get, whether I have 15 minutes before a meeting to dig into the Word or waking up earlier than I would like to, to spend time with Him in the morning. I’m not saying that this is always easy though. He is teaching me a lot about discipline, which has been challenging but awesome at the same time.
Isn’t it interesting that when we are at a low point in our lives, also known as “
in the valley”, we get to know the Lord more than when we’re “
on the top of the mountain”? It’s in those hard times when we encounter Him the most. I think that is because we need comfort and the only place we can turn is to God.
I would really appreciate if you continued to pray for me through this season, that the Lord would continue to reveal Himself in such a strong way. Thank you for your continual prayers and financial support. Without people like you, I could not do what I am able to do. You are such an encouragement to me so, thank you!
God Bless,
Tyler E. Dean
tyleredean@yahoo.com
