Our first two weeks of outreach in Christchurch has been amazing! We had many opportunities to meet and share with people as we spent time in the beachfront community of New Brighton, which was severly affected by the earthquakes here. God provided many "divine encounters" as we walked along the beach and sang, prayed and wrote scriptures in the sand. As we walked along the outdoor mall I also had several opportunities to share and pray with some women that I met and was SO blessed by how much they appreciated us being there to bring hope to their community! I even stepped way "out of the box" by singing in a couple cafe's and a pub with one of my fellow students and then sharing my testimony and chatting with the patrons! We also went to the porthills above Christchurch one afternoon and all prayed over the city...that was way cool! (see photos)
The days were long and sometimes a bit challenging, but it was so awesome to see how God worked and stretched us in the process!
Today we leave for the North Island for the next 4 weeks, and then my team will be flying overseas to the Cook Islands for the last 2 weeks of outreach to work with the YWAM base there helping them serve the community. I'm quite excited about this opportunity to serve while enjoying a nice warm tropical climate after all the cold weather here in New Zealand! God is good!!
I am leading an awesome team of 5 including myself. My teammates are Mark from Holland, Richard and Carol from New Zealand, Grace from Malaysia. Please keep us all in your prayers as we embark on this faith journey with God!
Blessings,
Cindy
We've had another great month of AWESOME teaching, growth AND adventure, and even experienced a few aftershocks and an earthquake here in Oxford! As we live, eat, learn and serve together here in community on the base, we are growing closer as a "family", supporting and encouraging one another as the Lord works in each of our lives. I am especially enjoying my hospitality assignments for our school, welcoming and taking care of our guest speakers and their accomodations, and blessing my fellow students on their birthdays and anniversaries (two couples in our school have celebrated their 1st wedding anniversary while here).
God has provided amazing speakers for our school! We've had speakers from Malaysia and New Zealand speaking on The Father's Love, and YWAM Oxford's former base leaders came from Turkey to share with us one week about missions, and challenged us to be prepared to go and serve the least, the last, and reach the lost with the gospel of Christ. I really enjoyed meeting them and was inspired to visit their YWAM base in Turkey, and possibly attend a School of Strategic Missions DTS they are hosting there in October.
The highlight of the month was our one week adventure to Kaiteriteri Beach and Nelson on the north eastern coast of the South Island! We loaded up four vans, and took a six hour drive through some of the most beautiful scenery with mountains in every direction, rivers, lakes and waterfalls! We enjoyed a weekend holiday in Kaiteriteri which included a boat ride up the coast that dropped us off at a beach for a 7.5K "tramp" through the mountains along the coast... the trail or "track" as they call it here in New Zealand was a bit challenging at times, but the beautiful views made it well worth it! God has really been speaking to our school through the beauty of His creation! We also had some awesome teaching and prayer over us during our week in Nelson. The Holy Spirit moved in a powerful way, and we all came back changed!
I've posted some great photos on facebook of our trip!
Only two more weeks of classes and outreach preparation, then two months of outreach before our DTS graduation on the 16th of July! Most of our team, including myself, are feeling called to stay in New Zealand for outreach to minister and bring The Father's love and the hope of Christ to the people of this country, especially those affected by the earthquakes. Small teams will also be going to Turkey and possibly to China and we will all meet back here in Oxford for our final week of classes and graduation.
Will post another update with more details before we leave on outreach....
Blessings to all!
This is a photo taken today of our Father's Love Crossroads DTS.
