I have arrived!

Hey everyone!!!

I am excited to be posting my first blog from New Zealand! I am blown away that I can even say that I am in New Zealand and have been for exactly one week now! It’s nothing short of a miracle that God has provided everything for me to be here. There is no doubt in my mind that I am supposed to be here. Everyone is so welcoming and makes me feel right at home. It’s so fun that everyone loves my southern accent and I love all of theirs. I am one of sixty students at this dts! This is a huge deal to this particular base, in the past the student range was between six and twenty-five students! Leaders have been praying for this particular school for two years now. We are anticipating mind-blowing works of the Lord! God told this particular base to do a tuition free dts, which cost them close to two hundred thousand dollars for them to do this. I am so glad they obeyed the Lord for my sake or I may not have even considered coming! This decision of tuition free has come with great sacrifice and trust. Especially since all staff and students raise support. It’s a huge deal to not have that tuition money to run the school. It’s neat to see them trusting in the Lord for provision because I am having to do the exact same thing. He provided just enough to get me here and I trust that He will provide to keep me here!

This calling on my life has been confirmed several times and I have only been here for three days! We had some incredible surrender to Christ happen during our first session with at least half of the students. As I was praying for the students down at the front, a new friend that I had not gotten to know really well yet, asked if she could pray for me. I told her please do that I had a wall that I’m not sure what it is but that I don’t feel that I am fully engaged. She quickly said that she had a word for me from the Lord. So we prayed and she began to tell me what God was telling her. She said that God wanted me to accept His abundant love for me. To come to agreement that He is my father and that He will completely provide for my every need, especially through finances. I immediately began to sob knowing that was the wall I had built up as I worried about the rest of my finances for the past three days. She continued to say that God needed more time with me on a one on one and intimate level. That He just wants to lavish His love on me just for who I am and what I am doing. An immediate peace filled my heart. I’ve never had such a direct and meaningful word before. It’s neat how Savannah had no idea about my financial struggle. Over the past two weeks, I’ve had a load of sacrifice, but nothing compared to what God sacrificed for me to have eternity with Him. He is worth it and it’s an honor to serve Him in this way.

Thank you for the specific prayers for safe travels, all flights went incredibly well! Thank you for encouraging words and notes! Thank you for commitment prayers while I am here! I wish I could have packed you all in my suitcase, but It’s such an honor to be able to include you guys through my blog!

On a side note, they keep us extremely busy here!  I will try and update at least once a week depending on how my studies go, it may be more than that. Wi-fi has a mind of its own here, so sometimes I have it and sometimes I don’t. If it takes me a few days to respond, It doesn’t mean I don’t love you or care! I will get back to you, promise!! Thank you for following this journey with me! In this position, It means the most to me to be able to bring you along on this journey! Stay tuned for the work of Jesus through my life and the Lives of others!