Hey there, we're Zach and Hannah, and together with our daughter Frankie, we are serving as long-term vocational missionaries with YWAM (Youth With A Mission) in Brisbane, Australia.
We both came to YWAM Brisbane in 2019 to do the Discipleship Training School (DTS), where we encountered the love and character of God in ways that marked us deeply and set the course for everything that followed. Those six months were life changing, mainly in that we both came to know God personally in ways that set us free and sent us in a completely new direction. After completing the DTS we both felt strongly that our time in Brisbane wasn't over. We returned in 2020 to join staff and entered the Basic Leadership School, YWAM Brisbane's 18-month intensive program designed to grow young missionaries in Christ-centered leadership and further equip them to fulfill the Great Commission. Upon graduating we were asked to lead DTS's ourselves, and for the next two years we had the privilege of walking students through the same kind of encounter with God that had so radically changed our own lives. We left in 2023 to return to the States and get married, but not with a sense of closure. We left with a word from the Lord: our time in Brisbane wasn't finished.
For nearly three years we held onto that word. We slowed down, got married, welcomed Frankie into the world, and built a life in Minnesota. It was a genuinely beautiful season, full of provision and grace. But through all of it, the call back to Brisbane never went quiet. It only got clearer. We prayed, we waited, and we trusted that if the Lord had spoken, He would also make a way. And in His timing, He did. Returning to YWAM Brisbane is not a decision we made lightly or quickly. It is the result of years of holding onto what God spoke to us, trusting in His faithfulness to make a way, and watching Him do exactly that.
The longer we walk with Jesus, the more convinced we become that the gospel is the best news the world has ever heard and that it is too good to keep to ourselves. We believe wholeheartedly in the offer the Father extends to us all, not to simply be fans of Jesus, but to be partakers in his life and the Kingdom he has brought to earth. And this requires us being active disciples of Jesus each and every day. We desire to see a generation gripped by this reality, who walk in intimacy with Jesus, are empowered to share the gospel, and who understand that they are sent out to proclaim this gift of life wherever the Lord leads them. That conviction is what compels us to give our lives to this.
Zach's primary role is leading the DTS, the foundational course of YWAM, a six-month intensive whose purpose is to disciple young adults in knowing the Lord and training them to make Him known in cross-cultural missions contexts. His role ranges from planning and facilitating the entire course, to pastorally supporting staff and students, to investing in and raising up the younger leaders coming up behind him. It is part administrator, part pastor, and entirely dependent on the grace of God. Hannah will be working part-time with the Basic Leadership School team while primarily caring for Frankie. The BLS exists to equip and champion young leaders spiritually in their walk with the Lord and practically with leadership and ministry skills. And of course, running alongside all of that is the greatest responsibility the Lord has invited us into: parenthood. This is not a secondary role or one that takes a backseat to any vocational ministry. We believe deeply that family is not a liability in missions. It is a witness.
As YWAM missionaries, we are fully volunteer, meaning we raise 100% of our own financial support. This was the specific leading of the Lord for YWAM from its very beginning, and we have always seen it not as a burden but as an invitation for the body of Christ to come together around what God is doing. We genuinely believe that a person faithfully interceding on our behalf is just as vital to this mission as any financial gift, and we don't say that to soften an ask. We mean it. Knowing that people are praying specifically for us, for the students coming through the DTS, for Frankie's life growing up on the mission field, and for the work the Lord is doing in and through YWAM Brisbane means more to us than we can put into words. If all you do is pray for us, we are deeply grateful.
And if you feel led to give financially, we want to invite you into that too. Our biggest need is monthly partners, because consistency in support allows us to be fully present in the work without the weight of financial uncertainty. One-time gifts are equally meaningful and go a long way toward the one-time costs that come with building a life in another country. Whatever amount the Lord puts on your heart, we trust that if He is stirring something in you, it is worth following. We don't take lightly the trust that comes with someone choosing to partner with us, and we are committed to stewarding it faithfully.
We are so grateful for anyone willing to link arms with us for this.
"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." — Ephesians 2:10
Thank you for taking the time to read our story. We do not take for granted that you are here, and we are grateful for you.
With love, Zach, Hannah & Frankie Abramson