Today I was updating my ministry newsletter (side-note, if you want to be part of that, let me know! I let people in on my ministry details, and there's a special secret comic page you can access through that newsletter) and I got sucked down a random little rabbit-trail.
Newsletter/missions/blog rabbit-trail
I clicked my old "financial support" button, as I had forgotten where the link actually led people to. To my surprise I was directed to my old WordPress blog, which I had completely forgotten about! I perused my old blog posts with some embarrassment and a good amount of affection for young Kyla, then thought "hey, I wonder if I can import my Wordpress blog posts into my Wix blog?" Turns out that was a very easy thing to do, and now if you are curious you could ramble down this blog and see how I expressed myself back in 2012.
It's... not wonderful. Don't get excited. But as for me, I am happy to have the entirety of my blogging archive all in one place again!
Making the Mission Support Page available to you
I decided that in the spirit of honouring the archive, I would re-blog my Mission Support page from the old Wordpress blog. Then, if anyone wanted to support my YWAM art ministry, they could do so through this link instead of having to go to the old Skylark's Adventure blog.
what’s changed since the last time I was receiving support
When I posted this Mission Support page I was serving in Taiwan with YWAM. A lot has changed since then. For example, now I live in Canada, and I’m not working with Create full time. I am no longer working on animations, I’m now doing children’s books. I’m dwelling among the Senders of missionaries, rather than the Goers. But some things have not changed. Since returning home I have continued to create resources for unreached people groups from home, just like I was doing out there. I’ve struggled to know how to navigate art ministry work and support raising as a stay-home person. I’ve tried Patreon, plus one-time gifts from generous folks, but it’s been a bit disorganized on my part, partially because I haven’t been officially part of any ministry team since 2019 - I’ve only been doing freelance, so I haven’t been able to receive tax-deductible donations through an organization.
So here’s how it is now: The reason I am asking for support this time is because I've officially taken on part-time YWAM work (48 hours a month, or so) to create contextualized children's books for unreached people groups. I would like to raise about $900 a month for the work I do. If you want to know more about this work, you can subscribe to my newsletter.
Without further ado: here’s the old support page I created back when I was an overseas missionary. Even though I’m home now, a lot of it still applies. And as I read it I thought, “oh yeah! This is how I could support my missionary friends too!” I hope you find it helpful. I’ve decided to add amendments to the original content in orange, but in the spirit of archival accuracy I’ll try to leave it the way it was for the most part.
Mission Support
So, you heard I do art for missions and you think that’s pretty neat. You want to know how you can participate! Here are a few ways you can keep in touch with me, support my mission work, and get news on what’s going on in my life.
Prayerful Partnership:
God knows what I need even more than I do. Will you commit to faithfully holding me up in prayer? There’s no better way to be part of God’s work here in Create Taiwan than to faithfully pray. Click here to be part of my Special Forces Prayer Group. (I don’t update this anymore. If you want to know about how to pray for me, you can subscribe to my regular ministry newsletter)
In general, my needs are:
To hear God’s voice and follow his Spirit, especially in regards to my artwork.
To humbly serve YWAM, my teammates, and the nations.
To be fruitful in my ministry.
Need some more guidelines on how to effectively pray for missionaries? Check out Ten Ways to Pray for Missionaries.
Financial Partnership:
I couldn’t do what I do without the generous, faithful financial support. If you want to give money towards my mission work, click here to go to the YWAM Canada donations page. They are facilitating my support raising. When you get there, you have four options:
Cheque/Money Order
Pre-authorized Payment (PAP)
Online giving via Credit Card
Interac E-Transfer
Feel free to use whichever one suits your giving style best. There are detailed instructions on the donations page. Use code WK11 to support me specifically! If you have any questions, shoot me an email!
“Create Your Own” Partnership:
But isn’t there more to support than just money and prayer? Of course! Get creative! Ask God, “What needs can I meet beyond Kyla’s basic means of survival?” Some ways I have been supported that I particularly appreciate are:
Receiving letters of encouragement
Being mentored
Having friends who promote my mission for me
Receiving articles/resources to help build me up in my faith.
Need more ideas? Check out 33 Creative Ways to Support Missionaries. (This link doesn’t work anymore. I bet if you print. “33 Creative Ways to Support Missionaries” in Google you’ll find something, though!)
Is there some way I can creatively support you back? Let me know. 🙂
Stay Informed:
Want to know more about my ministry? Then subscribe to my newsletter! In it I include the details of what’s going on in my life as it’s happening!
Learn exciting things like:
What I’m learning
Where I am the world
How our yearly animation project is going
Current events
How God is using my artistic ministry to communicate life to unreached people groups!
Subscribing to my newsletter is the best way to get to know how you can be part of a great task: reaching the unreached.
Thank you for being interested, and for all your love!
And that’s that! Thanks to everyone who’s been supportive and loving to me in your various ways. The only reason I’m hale, hearty and happy today is because of God’s generosity to me through my friends and family. I’m overwhelmed by the amount of faith people have placed in the Lord, evidenced by the faith they’ve placed in me. I trust that the good work he’s begun in my life will certainly be brought through to the end by God, and when I meet him face to face I’ll be able to say, “I’ve witnessed your love for me over and over, and your love for others. Thank you for pouring yourself out for us.”