“You are a powerful person — regardless of your circumstances, you can choose your attitude, beliefs, how you treat people, and more. God has given us power over our inside life and the decisions we make.”

I (Wesley) got to share a message on this, and other similar principles, with our newest team of long-term workers over the last month, and I’m so encouraged by their responses! I’ve heard regular reports from them about ways they’ve been challenged to grow and live more in-line with how God made them to be.

This is all part of a new initiative our executive team identified a while back to help our people grow in areas of hard work, perseverance, ownership, and internal beliefs. We realized many of our people are still young and could use some discipleship in these areas of life, and we call these topics “Hustle” — the internal beliefs and attitudes that shape how we live our lives.

It’s fun for me to teach, and I’ve been able to focus on this initiative because I stepped back from my role as Stateside Leader at the beginning of the year when we were about to have our second son. Because of the uncertainty around his life, I and the other CT leaders thought it best to give me some space so Buttercup and I could handle whatever we needed after he was born.

I can’t say my second son’s presence in my life has affected me negatively much, and in many ways, he’s been positive: my life is richer now, and I’m so thankful for him and the love Buttercup and I have for him. But the space at work has been nice, and it has let me focus on major speaking prep and other special projects that I might not have been able to give much attention to otherwise.

In other news, I’m headed to Asia! I leave next week, and I’ll be gone for two weeks to visit our long-term workers. I’ll be doing some teaching and strategic meetings, and I’m looking forward to caring for and investing in the team. And on a personal note, many of these CTers care deeply for Buttercup and me, and they couldn’t be here when our second son was born. I’ll get to share more of his story, as well as some Biblical teaching and encouragement about suffering and loss.