We were sent out with the clothes on our backs, our water bottle, and a sleeping bag and pillow! Things not allowed to start out were food, money, or accomidations! We embark on this two day journey 'Matthew 10 style' to see how the Lord works through us and provides for our needs!
Nine fellow radicals and I loaded up in two cars early in the morning and headed about 40 minutes up the road to Kati Kati. This town is known for its artistic murals painted throughout the town along with its kiwi fruit factory. This town is less than half the size of Perry, GA so we were able to work the main strip quite a bit!
Day one we arrived, prayed together, split into 3 groups and walked and talked. We did a lot of street evangelizing, encouraging through prayer and my favorite...serving! After offering our service to several businesses, my team ended up settling down at a rotary club and was able to serve the youthful elders tea! This was our first 'meal' of the day, let me tell you, that was the best slice of fruitcake I have ever had!! After serving there, we continued to drive through the country and a particular home caught our eye mostly because of the ripe and juicy manderines that looked oh so good to our tummys! We decided to stop and ask if we could try some! The couple gladly let us take as many as our two plastic bags could hold and listened to our story and what we were doing. The wife ended up having to leave, but the holy spirit led the husband to continue to talk with us and he shared his broken heart of his previous' wifes death and how he was hurt by this and couldn't fully believe in a good God. We were able to speak truth over this man, pray for him and encourage him to seek the God of Love! At this time we recieved a call from our other team members saying we had a place to sleep and food to eat! Praise the Lord! A local church received us with arms wide open! They had a newly built sanctuary and kitchen, we felt like roalty staying here! We enjoyed a delicous dinner provided by two guys who worked in a bakery for $20! The rest of the evening was spent with some Maori (native) children who loved to sing and dance! The church had some recent easter things still layed out so we had an easter story lesson for them! After getting the kids home safetly and sharing stories of how God spread his love through us and met our needs, we played a round of hide and seek and then got some shut eye all throughout the church to prepare for the next day!
Day two: Us girls awoke the guys to some coffee and a nice breakfast. We split up into two groups this morning! Some guys wanted to stay in town to work the strip and some of us planed to work at a Ukelele event at the local grade school. The team that stayed in town ended up helping at the church with a kids music group to start then they gave prophetic words to the church. They were so blessed by us coming in and being the 'talk of the town' by spreading the good news. The church welcomed us back anytime! (PS. we had an outreach team for the months of May and June stay in the Bay of Plenty area. This same church welcomed our outreach team back to work a youth event that they had!! How neat!!)
My team ended up only staying at the Uke event for and hour and we didnt have any other arrangements.... so here comes my favorite part of the trip!!
The pancake House! This place had been in my mind for weeks. A local Kiwi told me this is a must go to before I leave New Zealand, just so happens that I love pancakes and have been craving them for over two months! Our driver Karen suggested that we ride 15 minutes outside of town to check this place out! When we arrive we meet a Mother and Son duo and co-owners of this restaurant! Karen propeses the guy a deal right away! She offers that we work manual labor, whatever it may be for two hours for a pancake each! Right away, He says, "why not"! He puts us to work right away clearing out an eye sore of theres for quite some time. He had tons of overgrowth that needed to be cleared out. We get to work right away loading up limbs after limbs upon a trailor and tractor along with dumping wheel barrow after wheel barrow! After countless trailor hauls, a few dirty blistered hands, and two hours later our work is finished! We get the approval from the boss to come on up for a well desereved breakfast! Boy oh boy, were we in for a treat! They let us pick out whatever drinks we wanted, and Started out bringing us three pancakes! More than plenty for the five of us! These things were unlike anything I have ever laid my eyes on! Each of these pancakes were loaded with savory goodness like ham, onions, spinach! We put some aside for the boys back in town and chowed down on the rest. When we were almost finished, the owner comes over to our table and ask what two dessert pancakes do we want!!! Woah man, I immediately wanted chocolate and strawberries and the other we went for was a blueberries and cream! These things were a taste of heaven! After we ate to our hearts content we prayed blessings over these owners and their business and told them we would spread the word about their amazing food, business and hospitality. They were incredibly blessed and said that we had come to the right place at the right time because he just didn't have the time to take care of what needed to be done! >> This story goes deeper personally to me because I'd been talking about going here for weeks with my roomies. The one time I get the chance to even get close I was thinking 'Great, I don't even have money to eat there'. I told God that I knew He would provide if he wanted to. So personally He answered a physical craving and desire of my heart and I ate there for completely free! We were sereved over $200 worth of food that morning. What a sweet and personal God! Reminds me of Matthew 6:33. <<
After that amazing morning, we received a phone call of a disabled single woman who needed some yard work done and we were the crew that was just right for the job! We met back up with our other half and got to work! We did the whole nine yards along with choping some fire wood! After we got started I spoke with her about what we were doing in the town and at our YWAM base and she was just overwhelmingly blessed in return she gave us $40. After a hot afternoon in the sun we were all desiring a nice soak in the hot pools! We didn't have any money, but our fearless Karen decided to give them a call to see if all ten of us could have a free entry! After the owner called around town, He gave us a ring back and said that he had heard of the service we had done within the city and that we could have a free swim for as long as we would like! Our only stipulation was to not bring up God to other customers. Well, we followed the rules, but because of our culture of the kingdom that we take everywhere we go, we were approached about what we were up to! So we shared, they were all christians also that we were able to encourage! One lady gave her contact info, and joined us back at our base the following week at our community night! That night she was set on fire and encouraged us to keep following the Lords calling on our lives and dont settle for the one million souls we had been asking God for, because what if her children werent included in that. She encouraged us to dream bigger and to never stop! God's connections are just incredible! We drove to a beautiful lookout place along the beach and watched an amazing sunset. We felt God's favor on us as we had swept through the town with His love and walked by faith trusting his guidance and provision!
We drove back to Tauranga where we stopped and got 8 pizzas at $5 each with two soft drinks. We drove to a park and chowed down before returning to base after 10pm to complete our mission!
Just think this is only two days, one city, and 10 willing children of God. Multiply that by the 7 other cities that our school impacted. We are left all kinds of stories of salvations, healings, provisions, and just beholding the goodness, perfection, and truth of our Almighty God.
I am amazed at the vastness of our Creator of the Universe and intruigued by His fatherly ability to pay atention to each little detail and desire in our lives. To Him be all the Glory!
Enjoy some pictures of our journey!
