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Hey Everyone! Wow, what an awesome trip! God did so
many things in our lives and the lives of the people that we were
reaching out to. It was a great experience to get out and see other
places in the world. We're home again, and very glad to be
back. We had an amazing summer ministering 'down under'.
First of all, there may be some Global Expeditions lingo in this blog.
Here's what it means;
A trip - New Zealand trip A tripper
- missionary only on the NZ trip
B trip - Australia trip
B tripper - missionary only on the Aus. trip
MIG - ministry group
C tripper - missionary on both A trip and B trip; we were C trippers
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We left home June 8th and arrived at the Teen Mania
Ministries campus in Garden Valley, Texas on
June 10. There, we had two full days of training. We learned ministry
tools, such as dramas, skits, the plan of salvation, sharing our
testimonies, and kids programs. On Wednesday, June 13, we left Texas. We
flew from Dallas to Los Angeles, and from LA to Auckland, New Zealand. |
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When we arrived in New Zealand, it was Friday. Not
because it took that long to get there, but because of the International
Date Line. New Zealand was a beautiful country. Even though it was
winter, the land was green and very pretty. We arrived in the early morning, so we were all pretty tired
that night. We stayed at Carey Park, a Christian camp in Henderson.
Henderson was a town outside of Auckland. It was a really nice place to
stay - the cappuccino machines were a definite plus!
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At Carey Park, they had full time cooks. They made
very good food. We had a lot of lamb and New Zealand desserts, which
were amazing.
Stephanie - "I think the strangest thing I ate was squid legs. They were
pretty good, a little rubbery!" |
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We were on separate teams on
the New Zealand half of the trip, so we both have different stories. A
lot of our ministry was done in schools. We did lots of programs in the
primary (elementary) schools around Auckland. Our teams would have a
half hour or an hour to do skits, songs, Bible stories and games. It was
very fun and the kids responded well.We would sometimes do up to four or
five school programs a day. Our teams were also able to do Assembly
skits for the high schools, which they call college. |
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Stephanie - "We did personal evangelism in skate parks, parks and
malls. It was challenging but good. One time when we were in the
mall I sat down at a table with an older lady.
Turned out she was a Christian and believed in God. I was able to
just talk to her.
She told me that she always wanted a daughter and was very happy
that I would
spend some time with her. We talked for about 45 minutes."
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Most of our ministry in New
Zealand was based around Auckland, but each team had a 'village trip'
where we would go to a different town and minister there for a week. |
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Stephanie - "My team went on a village trip to Helensville. We
worked with a church there and stayed
at an bed and breakfast that was owned by a family in the church.
We did school programs and hung out with the teens of there youth
group. On the last
night we had a service with worship, testimonies, a short message
and an alter call.
Eight people gave their lives to Jesus and 2 recommitted them. It
was great. God really
worked in the lives of the people there. I still talk to some of the
girls. One of them said
that she was so glad that we came. It changed her life forever. It
is great to have God
use you to touch others and i pray that they stay true to Him."
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Rachel - "My team went to Napier for a week. It was
about a seven hour drive from Auckland to Napier, but the scenery was
beautiful! We partnered with a local church in Napier, called Napier
Christian Fellowship. The first day we got there, we were able to appear
on a local radio show. We were on Brother Ray's weekly program for an
hour. I was able to share my testimony, and a little bit of how I
decided to come on this trip. About half of our team was able to share
their testimonies, and one of our girls played "Heart of Worship" on her
guitar and we all sang. It was so cool! |
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We continued doing school programs and personal
evangelism. I met a girl at one of the schools whose name was Rachel. We
did a program at her school for half an hour, but we became fast
friends. Then, at youth group, she came up to me and said hi. Her
brother and sister came to the NCF youth group. So I got to talk to her
more that night, and on Friday night when we had a church service. |
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Two people from our team shared their testimonies at
the service, and we also performed a drama. Laura (one of our team
leaders) gave a short message and invited anyone who wanted prayer to
come up to the front. One man that came was on crutches. His name was
Luke, and we discovered that his foot had been run over just a week
before by a 7 ton semi truck. We prayed for him, and after we were
finished, he could walk on his foot! It was amazing to see God heal him.
There were also 5 young people that accepted Christ that night. |
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Earlier on Friday, we went to a prison. The first
unit we went to was a Maori Focus unit. The Maori people are the New
Zealand natives. There were about 60 men in that unit. A few of our team
shared their testimonies, we did a drama, and then Gus (one of our
project directors) gave a message. They were all very glad to have us
come. Then we went to a young offender's unit. There were about 15 boys,
ages 15-19. There we did part of a high school skit. It dealt with
issues like suicide and divorce. We also did a skit called the "What If"
skit. That skit talks about heaven, and how the choices we make affect
our lives. We encouraged them to start making positive choices in their
lives. Jon (our other team leader) talked more about choices. He invited
anyone that wanted to, to choose to invite Christ into their lives. 5 of
the boys made that choice. It was awesome to see these boys accept the
forgiveness of God.
We left Napier on Sunday after church. Our team drove to Rotorua, where
we were going to meet up with the other three teams for two free days
before the end of the trip." |
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In Rotorua, we were reunited with each other at a
sheep show. Yes, a sheep show. New Zealand has more sheep than people,
and apparently sheep shows are a huge tourist attraction. It was fun; we
got our picture taken with a sheep! We also had some time to shop. |
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That night, we ate at a hotel that served some
authentic NZ food. We tried lamb, different seafood, and desserts, among
other things. The hotel also put on a special Maori dinner show. They
did some dances and chants and things like that. We spent the night at a
Marae, which is a Maori ancestral house. Everyone slept in one big room,
guys on one side, girls on the other. It was interesting! Nobody got
very much sleep, except maybe the people who were snoring. :) |
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The next day, Tuesday, was another free day. We rode
Huka Jets in the morning. That was a lot of fun! |
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On Wednesday, we had to say goodbye to all of our
friends from A trip. We left them at the Auckland airport in the
afternoon, but their plane didn't end up leaving 'till 10 that night.
The rest of us (there were about 50 C trippers) went to the YWAM base in
South Auckland for the remainder of our stay in New Zealand. In between
the New Zealand trip and the Australia trip, there were nine days. This
was called C gap. We used this time to rest and prepare for another
month of ministry; and also celebrated Rachel's 17th birthday! |
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