Family Photo Shoot! Thank you Amanda!

Evangelism in Queenstown and Recent update

Hitting The Streets 

 

Even though we will soon be running a discipleship training school and taking students overseas for missions, we feel its just as important that the staff spend time praying and evangelizing in Queenstown as well. Our team has been meeting weekly to pray for specific things such as:

• Love for Queenstown as though it was our hometown 
• That people would become aware of God’s existence as they look at the beauty surrounding them
• Young travelers come from all over the world to party, find adventure and a purpose for life…our prayer is that they would find God in this place to fulfill that ultimate need for purpose and identity

 

One of our goals with evangelism is approaching strangers with wisdom and boldness.

Evangelism testimony from Lindsey:

Amanda (one of our staff) and I were in downtown Queenstown, looking for someone to pray for on our evangelism day. I prayed “...God, let the specific person you want us to witness to come to us!” We stopped to watch a group of people trying out a new outdoor activity called slack-lining. As we stood there, a man in his early thirties came straight up to us and suggested we try it out and we joked that we would probably fall. We chatted for a bit and I told him the reason we were hanging out here was because we were offering prayer for anyone that needed it and asked if he needed prayer. He said he didn't believe in prayer because God didn't answer his prayers now or when he was a child who grew up in a broken home with an abusive dad. He asked why God could be so passive if he was a God of love. Why did bad things happen to him as an innocent child? I have to be honest, I wasn't prepared for a deep discussion…I thought if he wanted prayer we would pray a simple prayer and if he declined, we would simply smile and walk away. However, this guy had a valid point and it was something I needed to face head-on because I too have thought of this question many times. I realized, even if I had prepared for this talk ahead of time by compiling all the “right” words to say and relied on my own intellect, in the end they would be empty words in my my own human attempt to try to convince him. I had this moment with this person, I knew I would most likely never see him again, all I could rely on was faith that God would help me in this situation. This was my one chance to show him that God is real and that God is good. I prayed to myself “Holy Spirit guide me in this conversation right now, give me the right words to say to help him become more aware of your presence and your existence.” I felt God was in this and brought to my mind certain scriptures from the Bible. Here’s what I said: 

“God did not cause bad things to happen to you, it says in the Bible every good thing comes from God and there is not even a hint of change in His character. We are born into a world that is full of sin and all kinds of evil and man-kind is affected by it." I explained the battle for his salvation, that God fights for it and that satan wants to make sure he doesn't receive it. "The devil is the author of lies, out to steal, kill and destroy. (John 10:10) God goes with us He will never leave us or forsake us, He has been with you your whole life. It says in the Bible, 'if you draw near to God, He will draw near to you'.” 

He said he’s asked and has quit asking because he doesn't get answers. I told him to keep asking because God makes a promise that he will find him. I told him that God wants Brian to want God with all of his heart, not just part of it. "Keep seeking him, keep asking and pray that he will reveal himself to you."

Our conversation went back and forth as he shared his thoughts and opinions and I shared mine. He was listening the whole time and genuinely interested in our conversation. The desire for this person to encounter God became even stronger that I asked again “Are you sure you don’t want prayer?” “You mean stand here awkwardly and pray?” he said. “Yes!” I replied. So he let me! As I prayed I felt God press on my heart to tell Brian how much God values him, that he is here on this Earth for a purpose not just by chance. I prayed that Brian would search for God and find him.

I believe he was the one God wanted me to find that day.  

Evangelism testimony from Jeremy:
Last Friday, Tyler Pippin and I "Hit the Streets," asking the Lord to guide us direcly to the people He wanted us to pray for. I instantly had a desire to go to McDonalds; (I'm not sure if I was just hungry or that is were God was actually leading us....) After we ordered our $2 McChickens we approached two individuals from Singapore and Malaysia. I mentioned part of my job was to meet new people and talk to them about their culture and beliefs. They seemed interested and invited Tyler and I to sit with them. We talked for about 30 minutes before we were able to transition the conversation into a spiritual one. We mentioned how God was a God of love and how we take teams all around the world to help and love people. We soon found out one of them was Buddhist and the other grew up in a Christian home and fell away from the Lord. By the end of the conversation, we were able to pray for both of them! I love praying for people from different religions. Even though they didn't fall on their faces repenting and accepting Christ, I know we planted a seed. Statistics say, (obviously God can work outside of this) it usually takes 6-7 positive encounters with a Christian before individuals commit their lives to Christ. I'm happy to say we may have been 1 of the 7 positive encounters.  

Update on Arise DTS school starting in January

The school has over 20 confirmed students and 7 confirmed staff including ourselves. We have been reviewing and praying over the applications for the school starting this January with  a few students in the waiting process and more applications coming in. We can’t wait to see how God is going to impact these student's lives! 

Building Community

We have been visiting several churches in the area that we feel a connection with. It’s exciting to see that they have the same vision for Queenstown that we do, to see the young adults saved as well as at the tourists. They have been very welcoming to us and we are thankful that God is building a connection with these people to not only partner in ministry with but have friendships with as well (something very important and necessary to have when you’re doing full-time ministry). 

We got another vehicle donated to our base!

A local businessman from Queenstown asked our director if there was anything our base needed. We said we needed another van and within weeks we were blessed with a turbo diesel 9 seater Toyota van. Our base now has three vans, all of which have been 100% donated to our Base.

Prayer points

* Housing for Students: We need to House 30 people by Januarry
* Continual Passion for Evangelism in the City and dedication to the Lord's work
* 2 or 3 more monthly supporters. We are so blessed to be in full-time ministry and can't thank everyone enough for their generosity. We both love working hard. As YWAM Staff we are required to fundraise 100% of our salary and we are 90% there! If you are interested in supporting us, just reply to this email and we will help you get started :) 

Amazing Grace and Safe Arrival

As we said goodbye to all our friends and family we soon realized we had a 22hr trip to the other side of the world ahead of us. Hunter's first flight was 14hrs straight and he just about slept the entire way. We then had a short connecting flight from Auckland to Christchurch and it wasn't too bad either. Lindsey and I have never experienced so much grace in our travels, even the staff at LAX were nice, helping us carry our 5 checked bags and 6 carryon's with a stroller... (If you ever come to New Zealand, I strongly recommend flying with Air New Zealand, it was by far the nicest aircraft and crew we've ever experienced.)

We are staying in a small town called Oxford for a few days connecting with the YWAM base and leaders here. We desire to establish relationships with the leaders here as they have been extremely generous truly blessing YWAM Queenstown. We soon will head down to our new home about 6 hrs south in Queenstown.

We have a great story regarding the Lords provision with an apartment in Queenstown and should know for sure if we got the place by the 16th of Sept. (We will share the details shortly)

Ministry in Q-town starts for us this next week. We hope to build connections, serve the local church and community. Please pray for us as we pretty much need to start from ground zero.

God is so good and we are so blessed to have a team praying for us and supporting us, Thank you!


Prayer Points:

* Shipment: we shipped our household items such as baby clothes and necessities, kitchen appliances, blankets and winter jackets on pallets in a container, they're not expected to get here for another two months! Pray that the shipping company would send our stuff soon as the communication has been lacking and the 6 weeks it was supposed to take is now looking like 3 months.  

* Continual Safety: Driving on the left side of the road is hilarious... We love it, but it dose make it a little more dangerous when your not used to it. Now that we have a baby everything seems scarer. We head down south in a couple of days.

* Spiritual Atmosphere: We hear Queenstown is a very transient locating causing it to be spiritually heavy and difficult... it is called the city that never sleeps. We need prayer for connections and consistence relationships.

* Family: We already miss our immediate families and Church family, we desire to make new friends here to become our brothers and sisters in the Lord.

* The local Ministry: Prayer for connections, Servant hearts, and being led by the Holy Spirit. We will be starting the first DTS in January and need to make some major headway with the community before then.


Blessings,

The Boltons

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Our funny video explaining the Discipleship Training School we are going to be a part of!

How to Support us Financially

The Lord has totally been providing for us! Thank you so much for supporting us, we reached our minimum monthly goal praise God! We now are only in need of a few more supporters as we pray God provides our furniture and monthly necessities. 

For reoccurring donations, you can fill out an auto withdraw form by clicking HERE. 

Or you can send checks to: 

YWAM Tyler Accounting

PO Box 3000, Garden Valley

TX 75771-3000

(Important, make checks payable to YWAM. My name cannot appear on the check or memo. Please enclose a separate note with my name on it. All support is tax deductible)

For one-time online gifts, click HERE: (this is also tax deductible)

Giving it up!

We just moved and gave all our stuff away!

Many friends have asked, "Why did you give everything away instead of selling it?" I know it makes more practical sense to have sold our furniture, bed, TV and business stuff but we believe the Lord called us to give to Him first before we started receiving from others and we were able to bless some pretty cool people along the way. We do plan on selling our personal vehicles to help with our transition expenses.

Moving in with my parents and giving up my business has been a very humbling experience for Lindsey and I. Naturally we want to make it on our own and have everything figured out. However, we believe God is calling us to fully trust Him and present ourselves living sacrifice for His kingdom (Romans 12:2). And we are grateful our families get to spend time with us and baby Hunter before we move to the other side of the world. 

By you giving to God through us, it allows you to reap what we reap and sow what we sow! We are still fundraising and thankfully have raised about 40% of the monthly commitments we need! Time is running short and we want to give you the opportunity to partner with us. Please e-mail me if you're interested in supporting us as missionaries. Every sponsor helps! jeremyb@ywamqueenstown.com

Blessings,
Jeremy, Lindsey and Hunter

Moving to Arroyo Grande

Lindsey and I will be moving to Arroyo Grande July 1st!

We aim to transition full time to the mission field September 1st, as long as our visas and finances come through!

Our Personal Financial Goal

Jeremy and Lindsey are looking to raise an average of $2700 USDs a month for consistent income and a total of $10,000 to help us get moved over there.



So far we have raised $1225 dollars in monthly support

The minimum we need required by YWAM to live over there without a personal vehicle or outreach traveling expenses is $2100 a month. Thank you for your help we have raised almost 30% of the monthly minimum!



Here is a breakdown of the $10,000 we need to move over there.

We have raised $3200 out of the $10,000    $7900 to go!

$900 Visa's expenses; doctor, criminal background checks, finger printing and processing's fee's.
$2600 Shipping some of our personal gear; baby stuff, tools, computers, bedding etc. 
$2300 Flights; transportation; shots and travel 
$900 Basic needs once we get there; basic used furniture; baby supplies; food, settling in etc.  
$2100 Deposit for rent and first months rent
$1200 emergency funds for our first year

Total: $10,000

Vehicle expenses;  (we will be selling our vehicles here and using this money to purchase a used vehicle in NZ) 

The Big News

Dear Friends and Family,

It’s time to announce our big move to Queenstown, New Zealand. We know personally how Youth With A Mission (YWAM) can radically change lives through their discipleship training schools and we are committed to help establish a new training center halfway across the world! We have felt a call to missions for several years and have waited for the right opportunity. When Andy and AJ Scalas (the directors of the new training center) came to visit the Santa Ynez Valley, we made an instant connection with them as they shared their vision for Queenstown. Our relationship grew and we were invited to join them in pioneering the new YWAM center. For the past year we have prayed for  confirmation from the Lord and together we feel God is releasing us to go!

Jeremy and Lindsey’s Role

In Queenstown, we will be on the main leadership team with several responsibilities that include starting and staffing a Discipleship Training School (DTS) in January 2015. The school consists of a three month lecture phase and a two month cross-cultural outreach. For the lecture phase, speakers from all over the world will travel to our school to teach on specific topics with the purpose of students growing in their relationship with God. We will be discipling young adults and training them to become leaders and missionaries. Our role also includes equipping our staff with leadership skills and building relationships with the local churches in Queenstown. We also have a longterm cross cultural role of developing relationships with the locals in places like Papua New Guinea where we will be sending teams and visiting regularly. Our outreach goals are to, evangelize the unreached, equip their local churches with necessary biblical resources, and to encourage them in the faith. We desire to live out the great commission from

 Matt 28:19 “...go and make disciples of all nations...”  

Why Queenstown?

For decades, Youth With A Mission’s leadership has been praying for a team to plant a center in Queenstown. Over two million travelers visit every year making it a great place for evangelism. Queenstown will be an attractive pull for young people looking to take a DTS. We desire to use it’s popularity to train them for missions and reach out to the tourists throughout the region. Queenstown is also in a great geographical location to efficiently send outreach teams to South East Asia and the South Pacific.  

The Call to Ministry

The call to Ministry  

Lindsey:

“When I made the decision at 19 years old, to give God control of the plans for my life  I had no idea how rewarding that one choice would be. God began to change my heart for people, suddenly my own needs were less important and the needs of others were more of a priority. I joined YWAM’s mission school, where I did my first overseas mission trip. Never in my whole life had I felt more fulfilled than when I was praying for people and telling them about Jesus, half way across the world. I felt God was releasing me to give up the expectation of a full-time career and degree and to view full time missions as my career.”

Jeremy:

“At 18 years old I found myself in China on my face crying out to God.... “am I called to full time ministry?” It had been 5 weeks into my DTS outreach and nothing was happening. In my desperation, I asked the Lord to use me to lead three people to Jesus that night as a sign I was called to full time ministry! I promised God I would serve Him as a full time evangelist the rest of my life if three people repented and accepted Jesus. I preached the gospel to a crowd outside a university and, guess what? Three people accepted Jesus into their lives that night! This inspired me to continue with ministry and for the following 9 years I was blessed to minister in over 20 nations with YWAM and also be a part of several different ministries here in California.” 

Personal Budget

Our Personal Budget personal budget

Prayer and Support

Prayer and Support Support letter 6-4.pages.pdf