9th Week In New Zealand

The biggest development of this past week is that the first $2000NZD of my Outreach fees have been paid off thanks to a generous family member. Also, I have put the last $2000NZD on my credit card, but, I have not fully worked out how to pay it off yet. However, a fellow student came up to me mid-week and long story short gave me $200USD toward my fees. Such a blessing!

God is so good, He has brought me a long way in trusting Him for provision in this season. Just 2 months before coming here, I really had no idea where any of the needed finances were going to coming from but, thankfully my uncertainty and lack of faith did NOT stop God!

In other developments, I finally got myself an All Blacks styled polo. As I am not too much into sports, the coloring and the words, "New Zealand" were enough for me. Just my luck too, the shirt was on clearance.

I have not been able to truly experience the culinary side of Tauraung yet. This is mainly due to me trying to save money and that the Base is a good ways from town.

However, thanks to a friend here at base, I was able to get a ride into town to see the Tauranga Jazz Fesrival. Now having been to New Orleans more times than I can count, it was not exactly the Jazz that I'm used to, actually a lot of it was not "Jazz."  But, I am a lover of almost any type of music so, I appreciated the talent of those performing.

I am not sure what adventures await in this upcoming week. But, I am learning how to enjoy the present and this might be the best decision I can make at the moment!

8th Week in New Zealand: A Week of Honor

This was a very interesting week at base and not because of St. Patrick's Day, which went almost unoticed. We had Relationship Week, which consisted of not just being taught about our relationship with God but also discussing our relationship with people.

The first day of lectures on Relationships set the tone for the whole week. The topics at hand were Honor and Love, two things the Bible commands us to do, for all people... even our enemies.

Now obviously there are no enemies here on our DTS... at least I don't think there are. In all honesty, we as students, who have almost been woven together by God himself, have naturally been going out of our way to be honoring to eachother,  especially the guys toward the girls. However, we (Ship and Base students due to a second week of combined lectures) were still given an assignment to take things to a new level.

Our assignment was to specifically honor the person sitting to our rights and lefts at the time the assignment was fiven. On top of this were were given a paper test to take so that we could better understand our, and thus eachother's, top "Love Languages."

There are five Love Languages:
Words of Affermation (Complements)
Physical Touch (Hugs, Backrubs, Bromance, etc.)
Receiving Gifts (Fairly obvious)
Quality Time (Spending time with eachother)
Acts of Service (Helping someone with chores or other jobs)

My top two were Quality Time and Physical Touch, with Words of Affermation being my lowest (but, God is changing that slowly). My two "Honorees" also had Quality time is their top twos, which made things really easy for me. However, this did not mean that gifts were out of the question. Actually, the whole thing became more of an "Obvious Santa." The Main objective was to challenge us all to get to know eachother better.

We all had a lot of fun just being with eachother and going the extra mile to honor a fellow member of the "Whanau." I enjoyed just spending time with my Honorees and of course seeing their smiles from recieving a meaningful gift.

With all the excitement of Honoring it is almost easy to for one the other main highlights of the week, the "Burn."

Now we first learned about "Burns" during Spiritual Warfare Week. These are really just elongated praise and worship sessions, 12 hours in our case, though some have lasted for 2 days or more.

We went from 7pm on Friday night to 7am on Saturday morning, with both staff and students signing-up to lead 1 hours slots. I was one of a handful that stayed the while night long. As much as I would like to say that I was awake and worshipping the whole night, that would not be truthful. I did fall asleep a couple times but, got back into the flow of things after 30 or so minutes of shut eye. Actually I don't think anyone was fully concious for the whole event, but that was okay, there was always someone still worshipping.

Starting tomorrow we start Week 9, Destiny and Calling Week. So excited!

7th Week In NZ

Last week was "Holy Spirit Week," an amazing week, if you ask me. Pastor Kristian Williams was our speaker. He pastors the Hope Center in an town called Bethlahem, been there, great church to visit if you are ever in the area.

The biggest event outside of the classroom was getting more vaccinations. All extra immunizations were optional but, HIGHLY since I am going to Vanuatu and will be doing medical work on top of that. I got a Hep A Booster and my first shot of Hep B. I had had 2 Hep A shots but, with the last one being just over 10 years ago, they recommended a final lifelong booster. I had never had any Hep B shots, though I thought that I had. Anyway, I got my first shot and should get my second shot during "Decompression Week," after my Outreach Phase ends.

Also, I got my first half of Outreach fees paid... well charged to my card at least. This whole thing has been a total walk of faith, the fact that I have gotten this far is a testimony about God's Faithfulness and Goodness. If you would like to help me financially, you can do so via the following link: http://givesendgo.com/ywamnz

Keep posted for my next update! Week 8 is already in full swing!

6th Week In New Zealand

What an amazing week!

Us "Base" students finally got out first look aboard the M/V Pacific Hope, a YWAM Medical Ship that brings healthcare to the South Pacific. For those of you who mght be wondering, I will be apart of 1 of the 3 teams going abroad the ship for our DTS Outreach Phase.

However, we went to do way more than get a quick tour of the boat. We went to work. After the tours were over and we had finished our lunches we were assigned our work stations. Some, chipped old paint, others helped with the bathroom remodel. I was placed on a team that painted the inside of the hold; Marine Paint paint is not joke, had to wear gloves and masks.

After all of the the work duties were done, we, almost 100 of us, left the ship for a marina park so we could do the well delayed baptisms. I was one of 19 that choose to get baptized. While I had been baptized before, in the Jordan River no less, I was very young and felt that I need to be "re-baptized" as an adult decision in my walk with Christ.

We then headed back to the ship for a pizza party to celebrate the baptisms and have out first Outreach Prep-Talk. To say the least I am so excited for my future life on the ship.

Thursday and Friday passed really quickly as we concluded our lectures on Spiritual Warfare. However, for myself and most of my fellow Medical/Compassion DTS students the weeks end would not been one of rest.

On both Saturday and Sunday we had First-Aid training. Two reps from the New Zealand Red Cross came out to the base and taught us, how to respond to a number of medical emergencies, how to preform CPR and how to use AED Machines.

The whole class passed! So, we are now all certified by the Red Cross to give First-Aid.

We got out of classes just in time for some of us to get on a van to an evening service at a local church. This time I went all "Kiwi" and left my shoes in the van, first time I have ever got to church barefoot.

I am so loving NZ! Though I am looking forward to go to Vanuatu for outreach, I will so miss this place!