by Jonali Bulsiewicz

Becoming missionaries has been the best decision we have ever made.  To those that don’t know us personally, it was a bit of a shock.  Why on earth would you walk away from an amazing job, a comfortable lifestyle, your family, your friends and your hometown?  Because when you know God, He’s more than worth it.  He gave everything (including His life) for us.  When you get the chance to pray for people, see healing (emotional and physical) and be the hands of Christ to a lost world, it is more satisfying than anything else this world has to offer.  We live for what we cannot see, because our life is hidden in Jesus. We will spend eternity with Him (should we choose to surrender to Him) and have eternal rewards for what we did on this earth for His glory.  When the God of the universe transforms your mind, body and soul, it is easy to surrender to His Lordship.  His love is contagious, and as we receive the beautiful fragrance of the unconditional love of the Father, it becomes easy to love everyone who crosses our path.

The process of growing in Jesus (and now missionaries) is not always a pretty, stress-free, smooth process.  It can come with persecution from the people closest to you and from (even) other believers.  It can also come with heavy attacks from the enemy.  Personally these attacks have been at our health (if you saw me at about this time last year, I looked sickly skinny), at our children, our marriage and many other areas of our life in the last few years.  Sometimes Christians only look at the power of people’s walk’s in the Lord, but often miss or don’t know what they have walked through.  Heidi Baker of Iris Global was able to pray over me a few years ago, and I will never forget the three direct words of the Holy Spirit that washed over me.  She spoke in tongues, then had an interpretation.  These words echo through my mind regularly. “Fix your eyes on Jesus, believe what He said is true, He rewires your brain”.  Little did she know, He was rewiring my brain (renewing my mind) from years of fear and anxiety from generations of Hinduism.  The breakthrough of healing began as I started to believe He indeed wants to heal me.  Jesus healed everyone He touched.  The breakthrough also began when I stopped feeding fear and anxiety, but instead fed His love and faith (through the word).  There was a direct correlation between my physical healing and my thought process.  When my mind was healthy, so was my body.  When my eyes were fixed on God, and not the physical symptoms, I felt better.  God has been training me to fix my eyes on Him, no matter the circumstance.

So what’s next?  For those of you who don’t know, in about a month, we fly back to the other side of the world (Australia) to staff with YWAM Sunshine Coast.  Do we have the money we need? Nope.  Do we have everyone we know’s backing and full support? No.  Do we have a place to live? Negative.  Do we have a God that provides all of our needs? Absolutely.  Do we have the confirmation from God to go? Yes.  Do we have support and confirmation from YWAM and our home church in Australia (Flametree)? Yes.  What will we be doing?  Good question.  When people think of missionaries, they usually think of going into the developing world.  What sometimes they don’t understand is that God loves everyone (even in the developed world!).  We have been mocked (by non-missionaries) and ridiculed for saying we are going to Australia.  It may just be ignorance.  God has a different plan and purpose for everyone; He sends people to the developed, and developing world for different reasons.

So back to the question, our (2-yr) plan is to staff with YWAM Sunshine Coast.  God has opened up incredible doors and opportunities for us there.  I (Jonali) will be working with the DTS (Discipleship Training School).  There are 4 schools per year with about 40 students in each school.  This is perfect because not only can I do it along side being a mom, but the program is the heartbeat of the organization.  Students from about 18-25 yrs. old (which is the age group Timothy and I have been working with for years) from all over the world come to receive the biblical foundations of Christianity for 3 months.

My heart is to help students go back to their past and find transformation and healing through the gospel of Jesus Christ and His word.

A lot of people mask the pain from the past and as they get older it just gets worse, this age group is beautiful because they are in an atmosphere of complete love, away from home, and are completely open to God as they made the decision to leave home for 5 months and complete this school.  During our school, many people were not only emotionally healed, but physically as well!

He is Jehovah-Rapha, The Lord Who Heals You

They then go out into the developing world for 2 months to preach the gospel, pray for the sick, love and care for widows and orphans and also are involved with community projects in developing nations.  Timothy and I did our outreach phase in Africa and as amazing as it was, the reality was that one of us had to stay back with the kids.  In Australia, we are able to balance what we will be doing a lot better with young children.  Together, we will serve in a pastoral care type role for the DTS school; we love to have students over, care for them and go deeper with Christ along side of them! Timothy has a bit different of a role.  He will be piloting a (24-hr) prayer house at the base.  They have been praying for years that someone would come in and do this, and when we talked about it with the director of the base, joy came over him as this need finally was being met.  He will also be teaching religious ed in the public schools, doing street evangelism, teaching in DTS schools as opportunities arise and going out into different nations preaching crusades when possible.

So whats on our plate for July?  Relationship with Jesus first and foremost. Pray for a miracle financially as we meet with potential supporters.  Spend time with family and friends.  Allow Jesus to be Lord.  Our goal is to go to the other side of the world by the beginning of August.  With our eyes fixed on numbers and financial provision, it seems impossible, but when our eyes are fixed on Jesus, all things are possible, and we can indeed walk on the water!