This video was made b/c I got feedback about my other one saying the pics went by waaaaay too fast, which...they did. I made this one immediately after but just haven't posted it in forever.
I can't escape it. About 25% of my 786 friends on facebook either live in or have been to New Zealand. I get constant updates about people either coming or going from there.
I originally went there for a month in March 2003 leading a YWAM outreach team.
I returned in September of 2003 for a year to serve with Impact World Tour (part of YWAM Campaigns), (explained by this video) where 300,000 people across the country heard the gospel publicly proclaimed and 23,000 people recorded their decision to follow Christ (12,000 of them for the first time). I am encouraged to still hear testimonies of lives that were affected by the Lord through this ministry and the follow-up.
Again, I returned to visit some close friends in November 2006.
And yet again, I returned to visit in October 2009.
I have history here. I feel like it's home in a lot more ways than I could ever explain. New Zealand was where I had some of the hardest times of my life...it was also where God showed himself faithful during those hard times. It is where I saw miracles happen for probably the first time in my life. It is where I had my first encounter with the Holy Spirit. It is a land that is dear to my heart.
It is with great joy (and a little bit of jealousy??!?) that I get to follow the World Race teams ministering in a country I know from top to bottom!!
Some of the racers get to serve alongside some dear friends in Tauranga with the Tauranga House of Prayer. They are helping out with a couple of different gatherings...first, Jubilee, which is an event celebrating 50 years of YWAM! I am very proud to have served 5 years in YWAM. It was a great part of growing me into the person I am today and I have amazing life-long friends all over the world because of it!
The other gathering is Call2All. "The vision of Call2All Next Generation is to see young and old gather
together in hunger and humility to see a generation provoked, mobilized
and permanently wounded through a life shattering encounter with the
surpassing greatness of Jesus." Here is the video explaining what it is to help you get a bit more understanding.
So there you go...in case New Zealand is also on your mind, you can see a bit about what is happening in that nation.
This is an excerpt from one of my favourite books, The Vision & The Vow by Pete Greig:
"I was giving a friend a lift in my car, and we got to talking about life. "I don't know what God's calling me to do," he confessed, and asked me to pray about what it might be.
"Why?" I asked. "I already know what Jesus wants you to do!"
"You do?" he gasped with excitement. "So, what is it? What's my call?"
I paused enjoying the suspense. Drums rolled. String quartets tuned up. My friend held his breath...
"Your call," I said slowly, "is to be a worship leader..."
He looked pleased, really pleased, so I continued: "...but not necessarily with a guitar in your hand."
"Okayyy," he murmured.
"Your call is to befriend that funny little lady at the end of your street..."
He seemed less pleased with this prospect.
"Your call is to feed the hungry and to spend yourself on behalf of the poor..."
By now he was looking distinctly troubled.
"...and to offer hospitality to strangers who just turn up in town needing a place to crash."
Consternation.
"And it's to fast."
He was starting to look furious.
"And it's to pray so long and hard that you run out of words and tears."
There was no going back:
"Your call," I continued, "is to preach the good news of Jesus to every person who will listen and few who won't. Your call is to go somewhere, anywhere, wherever, whenever, for Jesus, and never stop. Your call is to love people no one else loves and to forgive them when they treat you like dirt--or worse. Do your job to the very best of your ability without grumbling about your boss or whining about your colleagues. Your call is to pray for the sick, and when they are healed, to dance all night. And when they aren't, to weep with them and love them even more."
I glanced across at him and was relieved to see that his expression was beginning to mellow.
"Your call is to honour your parents, pray for your leaders, study the Scriptures, and attend plenty of parties. Be a peacemaker in every situation: when the fight breaks out on the bus home late at night and when the gossip starts to circulate at church. Your call is to pick up litter in the street when no one else is looking, to wipe the toilet seat, to pull the gum off from under the desk. It's to get to meetings early to put out the chairs."
By now he was smiling.
"Your call is to make disciples and to teach them to obey everything Jesus commanded. And don't forget to minister grace to them when they sin. Which they will. Your mission is to baptize and to cast out evil spirits. Your call is to bind up broken hearts wherever you find them, and you will find them wherever you look. It's to visit prisons. And hospitals. And to..."
"Yeah, yeah," he interrupted good naturedly, trying to shut me up, but I was on a roll--and I knew he couldn't leave, because I was driving the car.
"Your call," I continued resolutely, "is to listen more than you talk and to listen with your eyes as well as your ears."
He was shaking his head in mock despair. I carried on: "it's to do the chores again and again without grumbling. It's to buy ethical coffee and to recycle your bottles. And while you're at it,don't forget to leave anonymous gifts on people's doorsteps."
By now we were both laughing, and I was finally running out of steam: "And when you've done all that," I grinned, jabbing him in the ribs at each syllable, "come back and see me, and we can spend a little time praying about Phase Two!"
The problem for most of us is not that we don't know what God wants of us. It's that we know exactly what He wants of us, and it's not what we want to do!"
Itīs weird. We are living in our tents on the concrete floor of a church here in the village of El Tabacal. People are telling us we are roughing it. We feel like weīre roughing it. We sometimes cook our food over a fire, we shower under a tap filled with cold mountain water with people watching us, we go to the bathroom in a squattie outhouse with 3 makeshift walls (one open for all to see), etc.
We get knocks on the door almost every evening with the locals asking us for food so they can eat dinner, sugar for the childrenīs coffee (itīs very typical for infants & children to only have tortillaīs & coffee for meals). I get confused as I see the cell phones everyone carries and I feel like Iīm being used. I feel like they are asking for food because we are foreigners. I see crops of corn, I see chickens, pigs, etc. & cell phones and I figure they are doing okay. What I find out is, less than 10 years ago, all of the people here lived in the woods or jungle and most lost homes due to mud slides. The people would go for a month at a time without eating anything! Babies would die, people were sick. The government gave them this land where they have been given lots, and will eventually need to pay the government back. The organization, Food For The Poor, gave them a Tilapia farm so that they can have food and a business that will last. The only school is an old chicken coop with desks in it. There is one teacher (aged 21) for 40 students of all different ages (25 that attend regularly).
Itīs hard. Itīs sad. And even though Iīm here to help...the best help I can offer them is to pray. Pray for the Lordīs healing & provision in their lives. They are amazing people...if you ever get a chance to live in a Guatemalan village....do it!
Coming to you from the village of El Tabacal, Guatemala. We are only about an hours drive from Antigua, and most of the drive is over volcanic rock and bumpy terrain. We had to ford 4 small rivers to get here. We walked the last part of the mountain as our van couldnīt make it. Carlos, our contact and his son Charlie brought us here. We are the first team to ever stay overnight in this village for ministry. Our host family is Martin and Juana and their 4 daughters, aged 12, 8, 7 and 6. The mother is only 27 years old. We have been helping them finish the roof to their new house that a church team couldnīt quite finish when they were here last week. Weīve been sanding rust off the metal, and painting. Sometimes we canīt work on the roof, for example, one day we ran out of paint and had to wait until we could get some from town. Another day, Martin had to go get corn for the family and was gone the whole day (itīs a long process here). And another day, he had to fix the leaking water pipes in the road. Things just take a lot longer here and you really appreciate the things you normally take for granted in everyday life.
A couple days ago, we asked Juana if we could help her. She said we could help her pick beans a short walk away. Her girls then told us to bring water because it was an hourīs walk away. Just a short jaunt.
It was an uphill walk and felt like we were in the jungle in the middle of nowhere. After we tripped and slipped our way along, we came out at a corn field on a steep hill. The beans all grow around the corn stalks, I guess you use less land that way, and itīs easier to keep track of them. We crawled around on the steep hill picking the purple beans. We gathered a few sacks full & Juana took some corn for dinner & we hiked back. We ate lunch and then went back to shuck the beans for almost 3 hours (that was with 6 adults & 4 children working)! In the end, the family got 2 big baskets of beans which should last them awhile.
I learned what it was like to live a day in a Guatemalan mamaīs shoes (or bare feet), except Iīm sure it takes her longer by herself. She is a legend!
Every morning with Dawn, we take children with disabilities from a local centre to places like the zoo, an indoor playground at the mall, for walks downtown, and even to the circus!!
Gaby & Iosif having fun Walking with Stefie at the zoo (Photo by S.Choe)
In the afternoon we go to The Potter's House to help street children & children from disadvantaged families to do their homework, do their chores, teach them bible stories, help with crafts, games, mealtimes, etc. The kids & staff are so welcoming, you are sure to not leave without many hugs!!
Playing Ducks & Hunters at Potters House (from S. Choe) English Class at Potters House (photo from S. Choe)
A couple people also are helping out with painting at Mana, another organization for helping street children. We also were able to help out with an outreach event with them on Saturday where we were able to help out with giving haircuts, face painting, serving 2 meals, sports & games, music & cleanup.
Brandon (on the left) giving haircuts all day Kyla face painting
I can tell you that this trip has opened my eyes to the world. I can tell you that I have met a lot of interesting and amazing people in this journey so far.
There is Becky, from Casa Shalom in Bucharest, who wanted to be a missionary in Eastern Europe before it was open for her to come here and then came as soon as she was able and has been here ever since. She used to run a children's home, but the government laws have changed and she can no longer keep running the children's home and so she is slowly saying goodbye to all of the children...some have been reuniting with their families that abandoned them so there has been reconciliation, some going into new homes, some still living at Casa Shalom. The changes in the law don't stop Becky from doing something. She continues to support 100 different children to be able to live at home with their parents in order to prevent them from being abandoned due to lack of finances.
At Casa Shalom, we basically mowed the lawn, painted, fixed bikes, tractors, golf carts, washed chairs, sorted through thousands of boxes of donated clothing, unloaded a 40' container of donated items, and then helped put on a big yard sale/festival to raise money for their ministry. We visited a few villages, a girls home for those who are mentally challenged and also got to fix up and paint a home & yard for an underprivileged family. I want to give & love like Becky does.
We also got to meet Pavel & his mother. Pavel is a 15 year old who had bone cancer when he was younger. They removed the cancer and did a bone graft in his leg...but recently the cancer came back. The doctors wanted to amputate his leg and he was adamant that the Lord would heal him and so they waited. The urgency of the situation was expressed to him by his doctors and so his faith increased. We prayed with Pavel & his mother a few different nights and after Pavel went to the hospital for the results to see if the cancer was gone....they found out it was not and that his leg would need to be amputated and even then they might not be able to remove all of the cancer. I admit I was kind of disappointed to hear that news, but continued to pray for healing. A few days later we found out nonchalantly that Pavel had another test and they found NO cancer!! NONE! He still has an infection in his leg and will need the old bone graft removed...but he is continuing believing that he will be fully healed!
Can you believe it? We asked the Lord for something big...HUGE even...and He did it and then it almost felt as if it was no big deal?! I have seen sooooooo much hurt and poverty and sickness and death in my life and I've seen unanswered prayers and I've felt some situations almost hopeless....but guess what?!? God is a God who heals. I can't explain why or how or when...but He DOES it. What happened when I heard about Pavel's healing is that my faith increased. It lets me know that when I experience sickness or seemingly hopeless situations next time...I want faith like Pavel.
Sometimes a life of faith is unexplainable, but that's why it's called faith, isn't it? Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. (Heb.11:1). So hope big, and put your faith in the Lord, for He is always good. He is always faithful.
Now my act of faith gets tested already. I am still in need of $1,700 USD for this trip. I am actually behind on the payment schedule and therefore there is a bit of emergency to the situation....but as I said...faith like Pavel...this means that I will trust and put my hope and faith in the Lord for this.
Also, I made this video waaaaay back in Uganga and Sara thinks I should post it...so here goes. :0) hehehe
I posted a video last week and removed it from my blogs (in case you wondered what happened to it). If you'd still like to see it, you can view by clicking HERE. :0)
- Lugansk is the Russian name, Luhansk is the Ukrainian name.
- People are bilingual (Russian/Ukrainian), but mostly only speak Russian
- It is 20 miles from the Russian border (you can attempt to throw rocks & logs to Russia if you happen to be just a small river away, ask our boys about their attempts)
- It is further east than Moscow
-We had the sweetest, old-school flowered wall paper in our flat
- I've seen stray dogs all around the world, but in Lugansk, they all seemed to be missing parts (fur, eyes, legs, insides, etc.)
- Babushka's are cute and they will typically be selling fake flowers or blood sausage in the bazaar's.
- New Tone is an English school we got to visit quite a bit. They have awesome people there. They get creative in the way they teach students English, like singing songs such as "Hotel California" and "We Are The Champions".
- Most Ukrainians know a lot of history about the city they live in (about the monuments, the buildings, important dates, etc). I believe I would fail miserably in the history department if you came to my hometown for a tour.
- Hosts often give their guests a loaf of bread with salt on the top. The
ritual of offering a guest bread and salt is a ceremony of welcome
which dates back many centuries. We were welcomed with such a gesture.
- Borsch is awesome. It's a beet soup. Add a dollop of сметана (sour cream) and it's so scrumptious. (Thanks Darcy!!)
- What we call "perogies" at home, they call "vareniki". They are potato filled dumplings.
