Brooklyn (10) recently changed her school – her entire primary school – for the better because her tender heart noticed a problem and she thought of a way, a Godly way, to help fix it. She shared her idea with her teacher and soon found herself in the head teacher’s office. She was asked to speak in the school assembly to all 200 children and then visited each class. As of a few weeks ago, her “good friendship” initiative (based on Matthew 5:43-44) is in full swing. When an adult visitor to the school asked her how she had the courage to do all of this, Brooklyn said that her family shares about Jesus with people and it was the Holy Spirit inside of her that gave her courage. There isn’t a smiley face emoji big enough to represent how proud we are of this little world changer! While it’s a privilege to do full-time ministry work, real “ministry” isn’t a 9 to 5 job. It’s our 24/7 life, putting God’s love and heart for people into action.

Of course, we are blessed to be in the UK, working very hard on many tasks and projects to help reach young people with the hope of the Gospel through the local work of Oriel Ministries in the Southwest of England – a highly deprived area both economically and spiritually.

The thing is, our funding that allows us to work on the mission field in the UK is running low. Very low. So low that our ability to continue living here is actually in jeopardy and a projected timeline looms before us. We are deeply grateful for the many who give faithfully each month and the many generous one-time donations as well. However, we’ve been running at a monthly support deficit all along, as reported in previous updates. One-time donations over the year have helped sustain us, filling the gap in the monthly giving. However, at this point, due to a significant drop in monthly support and the escalated decrease of our reserve, we are in danger of soon not bringing in enough to cover expenses and sustain our family here.

We trust God completely. He is our provider. He must bring the provision for us to carry on or guide us to another path. We have to trust Him with that outcome, as scary as it is.

Financial support for missions work is a tricky thing – in our case, anyway. Because the $$$ to £££ exchange rate works against us, it greatly reduces the amount of usable income we actually end up with. Also, our work visa stipulates that a certain level of income must come in to us regularly, but Trevor is restricted from working in another field outside of ministry. Add a higher cost of living (especially in comparison to TX and OK), and it becomes an even greater challenge. We literally invested our every penny, plus so much more from generous donors, to get here.

So, all that we know to do is to 1) humbly make this need known and 2) pray. We don’t often put much emphasis on the financial needs, but this is truly a mountain before us.

So, will you please pray with us? Will you stand with us, believing the Lord will give us HIS wisdom, guidance, strength, provision and – most of all – peace? The outcome feels so uncertain at this point, even though God already knows our future. He can already see us in 15 minutes, in 1 week, in 2 months, in 10 years. There’s no uncertainty in His plan. We just have to release this to Him and keep moving forward… seeking, listening, trusting and obeying. We’re eager to see how God works this all together for His glory and our good! And, from a human viewpoint, we’re praying it’s very soon.

• If you would like any more information on our situation (total amount needed, timeframe, etc.), we are happy to share. Please just email connie@ukfj.me with any questions.
• If you’d like to give ongoing or one-time
  • USA: you may click here to donate on our family’s ministry site, UKforJesus.com.
  • UK: please contact connie@ukfj.me for BACS info
• To read more about the ministry organization we work with here in the UK and the outreach projects we’re involved in, please visit orielministries.org. (This website was actually designed and built by Trevor as a practical aspect of his service here.)

From the depths of our hearts, many thanks and God bless.
- Trevor, Connie, Brooklyn & Lincoln Smith // UK for Jesus

P.S. Our children Brooklyn (10) and Lincoln (4) are blissfully unaware of this situation and, for them, it’s life as usual for the present and looking to the future. If you’re local and want to discuss this more with us, we are happy to chat, but please be discreet if our children are around. Many thanks!