Outreach
Hi and God bless to you all.
Sorry I haven't been keeping you all updated enough things have been pretty crazy and we have been travelling around a lot. I'm aiming to keep you all updated more though within the last few weeks.
On another note in order to get my blog around to my supporters. I'd love your feedback. I'm thinking you guys could subscribe your email address so you could get my updates instead of me sending them on Facebook. Or I might make a Facebook page, let me know what you think? Your feedback means everything. And please let me know if it's Annoying you getting inboxed on Facebook when I update haha, and I'm sorry if I am.
Outreach has been such an amazing experience. It has been so much better than I would have imagined, there were challenges, but it's been such an amazing experience, I'm so sad that it is almost over. My outreach team feels like my family and it's going to be so hard to say bye to them all!!
We stared off helping run a kids camp. Back in April. This was such an awesome experience, we really got to sow into the children and the young adults which was amazing. I was mainly working with the youth, along with CJ and Johanna, who are my team leaders. I got to share my testimony with them along with CJ and Johanna sharing theirs too. It was so cool to just encourage them and speak identity and hope in Jesus into them. I was also delighted when I found out that one of the girls ended up giving her life to the Lord, later on in the prayer tent with some of the other leaders.
After that we ended up stepping onto the plane and heading off to Melbourne. I remember thinking what. How did I even get here in the airport. I was totally in awe of Gods provision, through your generosity. About 2 weeks before outreach I found out all my fees were covered!! I stepped onto that plane so excited and thankful.
We spend the first few nights of the Australian portion of outreach in Melbourne. Where we stayed at the YWAM base with Paul Richard's. Who has worked with Ywam for many years, and who we had the pleasure of him being able to join us for the Australian part of the trip. It was really good to see him again, I really enjoyed his sense of humour and everything we were able to learn from him while we were there.
My highlight of the first trip in Melbourne definitely was when we got to help out with the Soul van, which delivered food to the homeless and people in need. I was taking to this one guy, with another girl from the Melbourne base. We ended up praying for him, and he ended up giving his life to Jesus which was amazing. It was my first experience seeing that first hand so I was very overwhelmed with joy when that happened.
Then we headed off to Tasmania a few days later. Where we mainly helped out with local churches by sharing our testimonies and been able to help minister and pray for the members. It was sweet to see how God has worked though each member of our team uniquely and our stories really encouraged and resiginnated with a lot of the members there. It's sweet to see how God has worked though each of us though our ywam. I got the revelation. That some of our greatest struggles God has used to mold us and has used for good to bless and encourage others who have been or who are going though similar situations. Isn't God cool like that!! We also had Eddie who was one of Paula friends and Luke, who was a staff at the Tasmania YWAM base join us. We did a lot of prayer intercession for all of Tasmania, and we also got to help at a school near Hobart. Tabitha one of my teammates shared a testimony and we got to hang out with some of the students afterwards, who were really lovely and they were asking all about missions and Ywam so we got to share our hearts with them and how to get into the mission field.
We also got to help with a shelter home in Hobart. Where we joined with a local chruch who worked with them and feed them every second Saturday afternoon. It was really cool being able to talk to all the shelter people and just hearing their stories and being able I share the hope of Jesus with all of them. Some of them had such sad stories. I got to just pray for them and encourage them. I really think it's so important to be able to just listen to people and to just share and encourage them. We also had a guy who had been homeless and in a really dark place from the chruch who was able to share with all of them and just let them know of the worth and value and the hope in Christ.
After that we headed off to Melbourne for the next 10 days. Where we got to do a lot of street evangelicalism which was awesome. I meet a homeless guy who was suffering with elephantiasis, which is a rare condition which causes fluid excess retention. To try to say it simply. I got to pray for him and encourage him as he has been through a lot with his family. So it was cool be able to encourage him. Tabaitha and I also meet a lady called summer. She was stuck on the streets too with no where to live with her cat. She also knew the Lord which was awesome so we just got to pray and further encourage her. She seemed pretty sad. She suddenly ended up taking a phone call and we ended up looking after her cat and getting stuck with her cat, which lead to an interesting story but, it was cool to be able to share with her Jesus's love and to be able to pray for her. She's still in my prayers today.
Spending time with the homeless and people in need was a really humbling experience. I really realised that we need to treat these people with the respect and treat them with value as the children of God that they are. Too many people just look down on them and think that they are better than them. As humans we are all of equal value according to the Lord. I really believe it's our job to encourage them and explain to them their value in Christ and to not frown upon them, as a lot of their circumstances were out of their control. It's really important to lead these people to the lord and have them really have the faith that God can work through their situations and work them out for the good of his purpose, just directing them to the lord and teaching them to trust him and surrender to him is so important.
After our month long experience in Australia, we had to pack up and get ready to go back to nz again. We ended up going back to the Zion base for 2 nights and to have a bit of time to rest and recover. Before heading off to Dargiville. Where we worked mainly with the youth there. It was so amazing been able to encourage and love on them, a lot of them have been through some pretty tough stuff so we got to do some prayer and ministry with them. I also got to help out with the breakfast in the high school. Which they do weekly, it was a really awesome experience, we also got to connect with the youth there at the school again. The youth there were so precious and it was amazing to meet them and hang out with them. We will be seeing them tomorrow night at the impact conference in Kerikeri which will be amazing. Where we will be serving as well as giving encouragement and prayer.
After Dargiville we headed off to Whangarai. Where we partnered with a local chruch and helped serve by doing practical work such as gardening and weeding. We also got to knock on doors and avertise the alpha program that they were running for new Christians in a few weeks. We were also surprised to be able to attend a women's conference where we saw some of the lovely ladies who were from the chruch back in dargiville. We got to do a lot of prayer ministry after the service which as amazing. It was a very special conference indeed.
We then travelled towards Tauranga. Which the first night we got to stay with with some of my team mate, Sonora's friends. They lived right on a kiwi fruit farm about half an hour out of the city, which was amazing. I was also very delighted to see one of my America friends who I knew from his time at ywam in Queenstown there.
The next night we stayed I. Tauranga and got to go to the Tauranga House of prayer. Where we did some prayer and worship. Following that I joined some of them to do street help. In which we drove around in a van and gave people who had been partying out on the street hot pies and coffee! We had a guy come back to the Lord that night also. He had such a beautiful story of how he meet his sister on Facebook a few months ago and then travelled from Australia to Tauranga to meet up with her. He said that restored his faith in God again which was amazing!!
After that we went to Kerikeri where the primary focus has been evangelical work within the town. For the first time we all apart from 2 of the other girls are all staying apart. I got to stay with a lovely lady from the church called Margot and her husband. It was a real blessing to be able to stay in her house. And I heard from the rest of the team and they also have been living with wonderful hosts this week. The evangelism has been amazing. We have got to pray for and encourage some people which has been amazing. Sonora and I yesterday were praying and got a picture of the same lady then we saw her in the street, and chatted to her, she said she had just moved here and she was a little stressed from the big move so we were able to encourage her and pray for her. I also ended up with another local girl playing the guitar and singing worship outside the local countdown supermarket. We felt the atmosphere really lift and people were dancing around, the place was filled with so much joy which was amazing.
We have only few days left in Kerikeri then on Sunday after chruch we are off to Kaitaia. Where we will be helping out with the safe house that a local couple is setting up there and doing a lot of practical work on the place. It's really close to my heart this safe house as it's really important for people to be able to feel safe at home. I have found that in this part of New Zealand. There is a shocking amount of abuse that goes on behind closed doors. It's really important that we keep praying keep sharing the love of Christ in this area, as his light takes out all the darkness. God is doing amazing things here and there is so much more I didn't have room to include in here.
After Kaitaia, we go back to Zion and have our re-entry week, which included graduation and then. The part I'm dreading the most saying our goodbyes and heading off. I trust god will reunify some of us in his timing though.
I would love for you all to keep praying I have a few specific prayer points that I'm praying into, it would be awesome if you could help pray too!!
Please pray for
-All those that we have sowed into and encountered on this outreach, and that the ones who don't know the lord will come to him. And that those that are following him can keep coming to him and trusting in him, and that they can know their worth and identity in him.
-For all the other teams from our base we currently have other teams around the world. So along with us it would be awesome if you could partner with us and keep praying for, safety, more hearts to come home to the lord and health and strength.
-Also I would love if I you could partner with me in prayer for the homeless and the people who have become victims of abuse ect.
-Please also pray for me as I get back home, it sounds crazy but I'm a bit weary about going home, I know it's going to be a lot different making thy adjustment into everyday life again, and just for direction and the right doors and opportunities to open up after that.
Also on an end note I just want to say thank you. I couldn't have done this without your support.
God bless
Melissa
Sorry I haven't been keeping you all updated enough things have been pretty crazy and we have been travelling around a lot. I'm aiming to keep you all updated more though within the last few weeks.
On another note in order to get my blog around to my supporters. I'd love your feedback. I'm thinking you guys could subscribe your email address so you could get my updates instead of me sending them on Facebook. Or I might make a Facebook page, let me know what you think? Your feedback means everything. And please let me know if it's Annoying you getting inboxed on Facebook when I update haha, and I'm sorry if I am.
Outreach has been such an amazing experience. It has been so much better than I would have imagined, there were challenges, but it's been such an amazing experience, I'm so sad that it is almost over. My outreach team feels like my family and it's going to be so hard to say bye to them all!!
We stared off helping run a kids camp. Back in April. This was such an awesome experience, we really got to sow into the children and the young adults which was amazing. I was mainly working with the youth, along with CJ and Johanna, who are my team leaders. I got to share my testimony with them along with CJ and Johanna sharing theirs too. It was so cool to just encourage them and speak identity and hope in Jesus into them. I was also delighted when I found out that one of the girls ended up giving her life to the Lord, later on in the prayer tent with some of the other leaders.
After that we ended up stepping onto the plane and heading off to Melbourne. I remember thinking what. How did I even get here in the airport. I was totally in awe of Gods provision, through your generosity. About 2 weeks before outreach I found out all my fees were covered!! I stepped onto that plane so excited and thankful.
We spend the first few nights of the Australian portion of outreach in Melbourne. Where we stayed at the YWAM base with Paul Richard's. Who has worked with Ywam for many years, and who we had the pleasure of him being able to join us for the Australian part of the trip. It was really good to see him again, I really enjoyed his sense of humour and everything we were able to learn from him while we were there.
My highlight of the first trip in Melbourne definitely was when we got to help out with the Soul van, which delivered food to the homeless and people in need. I was taking to this one guy, with another girl from the Melbourne base. We ended up praying for him, and he ended up giving his life to Jesus which was amazing. It was my first experience seeing that first hand so I was very overwhelmed with joy when that happened.
Then we headed off to Tasmania a few days later. Where we mainly helped out with local churches by sharing our testimonies and been able to help minister and pray for the members. It was sweet to see how God has worked though each member of our team uniquely and our stories really encouraged and resiginnated with a lot of the members there. It's sweet to see how God has worked though each of us though our ywam. I got the revelation. That some of our greatest struggles God has used to mold us and has used for good to bless and encourage others who have been or who are going though similar situations. Isn't God cool like that!! We also had Eddie who was one of Paula friends and Luke, who was a staff at the Tasmania YWAM base join us. We did a lot of prayer intercession for all of Tasmania, and we also got to help at a school near Hobart. Tabitha one of my teammates shared a testimony and we got to hang out with some of the students afterwards, who were really lovely and they were asking all about missions and Ywam so we got to share our hearts with them and how to get into the mission field.
We also got to help with a shelter home in Hobart. Where we joined with a local chruch who worked with them and feed them every second Saturday afternoon. It was really cool being able to talk to all the shelter people and just hearing their stories and being able I share the hope of Jesus with all of them. Some of them had such sad stories. I got to just pray for them and encourage them. I really think it's so important to be able to just listen to people and to just share and encourage them. We also had a guy who had been homeless and in a really dark place from the chruch who was able to share with all of them and just let them know of the worth and value and the hope in Christ.
After that we headed off to Melbourne for the next 10 days. Where we got to do a lot of street evangelicalism which was awesome. I meet a homeless guy who was suffering with elephantiasis, which is a rare condition which causes fluid excess retention. To try to say it simply. I got to pray for him and encourage him as he has been through a lot with his family. So it was cool be able to encourage him. Tabaitha and I also meet a lady called summer. She was stuck on the streets too with no where to live with her cat. She also knew the Lord which was awesome so we just got to pray and further encourage her. She seemed pretty sad. She suddenly ended up taking a phone call and we ended up looking after her cat and getting stuck with her cat, which lead to an interesting story but, it was cool to be able to share with her Jesus's love and to be able to pray for her. She's still in my prayers today.
Spending time with the homeless and people in need was a really humbling experience. I really realised that we need to treat these people with the respect and treat them with value as the children of God that they are. Too many people just look down on them and think that they are better than them. As humans we are all of equal value according to the Lord. I really believe it's our job to encourage them and explain to them their value in Christ and to not frown upon them, as a lot of their circumstances were out of their control. It's really important to lead these people to the lord and have them really have the faith that God can work through their situations and work them out for the good of his purpose, just directing them to the lord and teaching them to trust him and surrender to him is so important.
After our month long experience in Australia, we had to pack up and get ready to go back to nz again. We ended up going back to the Zion base for 2 nights and to have a bit of time to rest and recover. Before heading off to Dargiville. Where we worked mainly with the youth there. It was so amazing been able to encourage and love on them, a lot of them have been through some pretty tough stuff so we got to do some prayer and ministry with them. I also got to help out with the breakfast in the high school. Which they do weekly, it was a really awesome experience, we also got to connect with the youth there at the school again. The youth there were so precious and it was amazing to meet them and hang out with them. We will be seeing them tomorrow night at the impact conference in Kerikeri which will be amazing. Where we will be serving as well as giving encouragement and prayer.
After Dargiville we headed off to Whangarai. Where we partnered with a local chruch and helped serve by doing practical work such as gardening and weeding. We also got to knock on doors and avertise the alpha program that they were running for new Christians in a few weeks. We were also surprised to be able to attend a women's conference where we saw some of the lovely ladies who were from the chruch back in dargiville. We got to do a lot of prayer ministry after the service which as amazing. It was a very special conference indeed.
We then travelled towards Tauranga. Which the first night we got to stay with with some of my team mate, Sonora's friends. They lived right on a kiwi fruit farm about half an hour out of the city, which was amazing. I was also very delighted to see one of my America friends who I knew from his time at ywam in Queenstown there.
The next night we stayed I. Tauranga and got to go to the Tauranga House of prayer. Where we did some prayer and worship. Following that I joined some of them to do street help. In which we drove around in a van and gave people who had been partying out on the street hot pies and coffee! We had a guy come back to the Lord that night also. He had such a beautiful story of how he meet his sister on Facebook a few months ago and then travelled from Australia to Tauranga to meet up with her. He said that restored his faith in God again which was amazing!!
After that we went to Kerikeri where the primary focus has been evangelical work within the town. For the first time we all apart from 2 of the other girls are all staying apart. I got to stay with a lovely lady from the church called Margot and her husband. It was a real blessing to be able to stay in her house. And I heard from the rest of the team and they also have been living with wonderful hosts this week. The evangelism has been amazing. We have got to pray for and encourage some people which has been amazing. Sonora and I yesterday were praying and got a picture of the same lady then we saw her in the street, and chatted to her, she said she had just moved here and she was a little stressed from the big move so we were able to encourage her and pray for her. I also ended up with another local girl playing the guitar and singing worship outside the local countdown supermarket. We felt the atmosphere really lift and people were dancing around, the place was filled with so much joy which was amazing.
We have only few days left in Kerikeri then on Sunday after chruch we are off to Kaitaia. Where we will be helping out with the safe house that a local couple is setting up there and doing a lot of practical work on the place. It's really close to my heart this safe house as it's really important for people to be able to feel safe at home. I have found that in this part of New Zealand. There is a shocking amount of abuse that goes on behind closed doors. It's really important that we keep praying keep sharing the love of Christ in this area, as his light takes out all the darkness. God is doing amazing things here and there is so much more I didn't have room to include in here.
After Kaitaia, we go back to Zion and have our re-entry week, which included graduation and then. The part I'm dreading the most saying our goodbyes and heading off. I trust god will reunify some of us in his timing though.
I would love for you all to keep praying I have a few specific prayer points that I'm praying into, it would be awesome if you could help pray too!!
Please pray for
-All those that we have sowed into and encountered on this outreach, and that the ones who don't know the lord will come to him. And that those that are following him can keep coming to him and trusting in him, and that they can know their worth and identity in him.
-For all the other teams from our base we currently have other teams around the world. So along with us it would be awesome if you could partner with us and keep praying for, safety, more hearts to come home to the lord and health and strength.
-Also I would love if I you could partner with me in prayer for the homeless and the people who have become victims of abuse ect.
-Please also pray for me as I get back home, it sounds crazy but I'm a bit weary about going home, I know it's going to be a lot different making thy adjustment into everyday life again, and just for direction and the right doors and opportunities to open up after that.
Also on an end note I just want to say thank you. I couldn't have done this without your support.
God bless
Melissa
Comments
Post a Comment