God Changing Lives
"With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26
God continues to remind us how much He has blessed us, we feel humbled and thankful to be here doing what we’re doing. We know that we would not be here if it weren't for your prayers and support! You are the backbone to our ministry and give us the encouragement we need. You believe in us and that has given us the courage to leave home and trust in God’s plans. Thank you for all that you do for us and for the sacrifices you have made so that we can be here. We love you!
North Island:
Recently we were commissioned and sent on outreach starting on the North Island of NZ then we went to Taiwan and other areas in Asia. Here a quick summary of whats been happing in New Zealand. Sunday May 3rd (Jeremy's birthday) the pastor asked us to lead the Sunday morning service, Jeremy preached and Alex gave his testimony and was blessed to inspire the church in evangelism and faith. Our team had a ministry time at the end of the service and several people came forward for prayer for boldness and faith to step out in evangelism. Over 100 people heard the message that day. Then we gathered as many of the church members as possible and took them out to evangelize on the street. Exciting things happened including someone being healed from being mute. We joined up with the church's community dinner ministry where we cook and serve dinner to needy families and build relationships with them, followed by a Bible study. Lindsey got to share about how she found inner healing through God as a father and wants to bring healing to people's hearts that have been hurt. Two people responded and asked for prayer that had never heard of God being a father. God is so good at bringing exactly what we need! We continued to do ministry with the church the rest of the time there then on a Friday night our team spoke at the youth group and as a result 6 people gave their life to JESUS! By the next day, we were able to take over 25 members of the church and youth group out for another ministry day loving and serving people. We did a free car wash, skate park ministry, and farmer's market evangelism ministry. We also took a team to a small town called Wairakei where we handed out baked goods offering prayer and free lawn mowing service to families in need. About 30 people were a part of the ministry and an estimated 60-70 people were touched. During evangelism, a member of our YWAM team took one of the youth kids out to the skate park and was able to lead someone to Christ right there in public. He then inspired the youth step out more in evangelism. As a result to all the amazing things God has been doing, many of the families whom have been involved in the church now want to continue evangelizing even after our team has leaves. I would say God's love truly has been activated here and the church wants to continue in what we have been sowing into.
Taiwan
Its hard to believe we are already finished with our time in Taiwan. In a culture far from what each of us are used to, our team transitioned so smoothly. We arrived around 2 am and were greeted by an awesome local named, Fang Pei. Fang Pei welcomed us with an incredible amount of love and energy. As we drove off into the city, all we could see were city lights and shadows of buildings knowing God had something beautiful in store for our team. Without Fang Pei, getting around would have been much more difficult, (she was like an angel sent by God!).
During our stay, we were blessed with diverse ministry opportunities that gave us a chance to immerse ourselves in Taiwan's culture. Our first week, we served a ministry/coffeeshop that welcomes local Taiwanese people to come learn english while they enjoy coffee and tea. We spent time painting the ministries doors and walls (Katie designed it all- Go Katie!), shared testimonies, and prayed for the locals who would stop in. We also performed a drama in a nearby prison sharing testimonies and preaching the gospel of how God redeems and loves us all no matter what past we come from. A powerful moment, we all will remember forever was when 17 prison men raised their hands saying they wanted to commit their lives to Jesus. Please join us in praying for these men that Gods love continues to wash over them as they hold on to the hope of Christ and as the local Chaplin disciples them!
We were blessed to work along side Kings Kids International lead by Tim, Naomi Gillette and their beautiful daughter Nikola and others. Their family showed us the ins and outs of Taiwan while loving our team passionately like we were part of their family. Tim and Naomi took us to a village in the mountains called Han Xi. We spent time with the local village kids playing games, crafts, and teaching them bible stories. Joy was abounding through the smiles and love these children have, despite the tough circumstances many of them have been raised in. During the afternoon that day we split up and went around from door to door asking other villages if kids would like to come to Youth that night. Walking around meeting the villagers opened many opportunities to hear stories, pray and bless many of the families in the villages. What a powerful experience! The Youth event was full of Gods spontaneous wind like Spirit. We didn't plan to teach the kids a drama called “He Lives in You” but during a break our team was goofing around dancing to the song of the drama and we looked at each other and thought “why not? could this be what the spirit was leading us to do?” The night ended with five youth teens asking for Jesus to enter their hearts and many more recommitting their lives to Christ, it was truly amazing to see God captivate the hearts of these kids.
We are learning more and more about who God is an how He loves us all. His timing has been impeccable and a constant reminder that He is faithful and desires His children to draw near to His heart.
As a team, each of us has had to step out in faith with being placed in situations that we have never been in before. Each of us taught English classes to a Taiwanese junior high school Monday through Friday our second week in Taiwan. In this public school they allowed us to teach our favorite bible stories to these kids… IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL! (How cool!!) We were able to share the gospel with 600 students that week! The kids are amazing and as much as we poured our hearts out to them I think they encouraged us even more. (Alex found out that he has quite the gift of teaching and a passion for kids!)
Everyday after we would teach we would then participate in more ministry opportunities. This looked like coffee shops, a women's shelter, meeting up with new friends, teaching at a University, or worshiping with the local church.
Lindsey, Payton, and Tasha had a powerful opportunity to share testimonies and sing “How He Loves Us” to 10 girls at the Women's Shelter. These girls had either been abused or in prostitution from ages 13-18. A special moment came about when one girl boldly asked for prayer that “Jesus would unlock the door to her heart”, she was so eager to change it was beautiful to hear the desire in her words. He never stops pursuing us.
Finally, we taught English in a local Christian University! Many of these students are hungry to know more about God. Although they go to a Christian University, about 5% of the students actually are Christian. A central theme to our teachings was overcoming fear and releasing dreams. A majority of the students had never been asked what their dreams were! It was inspiring to hear the dreams of the students and what ways they plan to pursue those dreams and purpose in life. Getting the chance to encourage them to follow the dreams God has placed individually on their hearts brought joy to our hearts!
We may not think saying “Yes” and encouraging someone in their dreams could really actually make a difference, but it can. The “Yes” in Christ makes all the difference. Kids learn by what we say yes and no too. As a team, God really put it on our hearts to be that “yes” to the younger generation we encounter during outreach.
Our time in Taiwan was 14 days each of us will hold onto forever. Much of our time was filled with so many new opportunities that at the end of each day we played down knowing that through the prayers of you all supporting us God would refill us in the hours of sleep. And He always did. We are thankful for you. Your love for us has protected us and wrapped us in Gods love. We thank you for your reverent prayers, love, and encouragement! The words of love that each of you placed on our hearts over the years is being poured out to the people we meet in each new place. Please continue to pray for health and endurance. The days are quickly passing by and we want to continue to do all that God has called us here for! May Gods love pour down and the joy in Christ abound in you all.
What did we learn?
God has a plan. Wherever He sends us, He is faithful provide and bring people in need of hearing the truth. When we're willing, He constantly gives opportunities to share about who He is.
God is intentional. He knows exactly what He is doing and has every day, month and season planned out in our lives before we’ve even thought of it!
God is everywhere! It doesn’t matter what country we've traveled to, we sense God’s presence with us and working through people, churches, ministries etc.
Flexibility! Bringing a family on the mission field means going with the flow, not complaining, and choosing to focus on the positive rather than the negative things.
What’s next for us:
We feel strongly that God has called us to New Zealand and specifically Queenstown for a purpose. We don’t feel it was an accident or coincidence that He brought us here. We see that God is bringing young adults from all over the world to join YWAM to fill their hearts with a deep purpose to impact their generation by going home and getting their friends and the people in their community saved. We feel honored that God would use us to be a part of the big plans that he has for people and the nations.
We are currently back in New Zealand working as the outreach coordinators and helping train and equip the new staff at our center. We will be leading two DTS schools starting in October- February. This means we are taking on a lot more responsibility. We are excited to do this but know that it will take a lot of time and energy to prepare for this. We also want to set aside time to rest after our two month trip over-seas and feel its important to feel refreshed and spend time together as a family so that we can have lots of energy for when the next school starts!
Prayer:
-Marriage: time to spend together, dates, quality time, fun, enjoy doing fun things together
-Prepping for the next school
-Humility, serving, working hard, giving everything our best
FINANCIAL SUPPORT: One of YWAM’s Foundational Values is to be dependent on God for financial provision. We are both full-time missionaries trusting God to meet 100% of our needs.
Living by faith has been a huge step for us and it blows our mind how God constantly provides our needs. At the moment we are currently aiming to raise an additional $500-$700 a month. We have been receiving in-between $2200-$3000 a month which has been such a huge blessings. In order for us to cover our long term living and travel expenses we are trusting God for a few more monthly supporters. We are also extremely grateful for one time gifts. There is no amount that is too small. We are truly thankful and humbled to be here doing what we do.
If you are interested in joining our support team please feel free e-mail and we can send you our information.
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