In three months our dear friend Joylyn will be moving to Kolkata, India, to serve alongside Shampa Rice and her family.  This is no small news for us here at Wanderlust Foundation.  We have been friends and mentors of Joylyn for many years.  In fact when God first inspired Danielle and I to embark on this journey, she was immediately on our hearts to be the one to go to full time to whatever country God would lead us to.  At that point we didn’t know which country it would be – but Joylyn said yes regardless.  Soon God had very clearly showed us that it would be India, which just so happened to be the country of Joylyn’s dreams.

At some point as a teenager she grew a heart connection with the country and culture of India.  There was no logical reason for this to happen; this new love seemed to come out of nowhere.  She began to research the Indian culture, from wedding ceremonies to Hinduism, to the cuisine.  She even began to teach herself the language, Hindi.  She has carried this in her heart for years, with no idea or hope of what this would mean for her future.

Then Danielle and I came to her and shared our God inspiration, and our partnership was formed.  We visited India together twice.  Each time Joylyn was beside us and each time God did deep works in her heart, purifying her and refining her to bring her to that place where He could hand her her dream – to move to India.

This is a dream come true for Joylyn, but there is also another party involved and that is the Rice family.  Although this family has spent many of their years in the comfort of American living, they have chosen to forsake all of that in order to give of themselves to minister to the people of India.  Many teams come in and out throughout the year.  Now a shift is happening, where workers are coming full time to join in the harvest.  We are believing that Joylyn is a first fruit of that.  God is expanding the Rice’s territory in India, and He will also provide the workers to come beside to them to help lighten their load.

In India, Joylyn will be living in an apartment set up for her by the Rices, living with her dear friend Shonali Rice.  Shampa has a home for boys nearby where Joylyn will be living.  These boys were saved off the streets; they were unwanted and tossed aside.  This sweet couple has been taking them in and providing for them.  Recently this couple, through an awesome God connection, contacted Shampa and asked if she would please embrace these boys as her kids as well.  Joylyn will be spending time with the boys, loving on them and teaching them.  She will also be traveling out to the school in Bokaro to stay a few weeks at a time and to work with those kids.  The kids know Joylyn well there and will be beyond happy that she has come to stay!

Those are just a few of the opportunities she will have to serve God’s children.  We know this little bit of what she will be doing in India, but we know that God’s purposes for her there are much greater than we can imagine.  It will be awesome to watch as they unfold!

We are so happy to share this with you, first of all, so that you can rejoice with us in our sister’s dreams being fulfilled.  And second of all, because we feel that Joylyn will be stepping out and paving the way for more to come.  Part of our vision and dream in starting Wanderlust was to connect the Body of Christ in America with the Body (the hands and feet) that are serving in other countries.  We need them and they need us!

God is step by step making things clear and unfolding His vision over WF.  And this is now an exciting possibility for our future, the missionaries we work with, and for you!

We appreciate your prayers for Joylyn and the RIces and for the future interns God is preparing to send out.  May we never hesitate to dream with God and let Him dream over us – oh the wonders we will see!

In His abundant grace,

Jenell

Romans 8:28-32