Orange

God’s love is orange like the zing of citrus exploding in your mouth like a million firecrackers, as you sit, warmed by the sun on your front porch, noisily sucking, slurping, swallowing tangy juices that sticky your fingers. God’s love is orange.

God’s love is orange, almost red, as you sit on the step, your eyelids screwed tightly shut, watching the little bugs floating in your eyes, the hum of a mosquito by your ear, the sun warming the freckles on your upturned face. God’s love is orange.

Yellow

God’s love is yellow, pure, sweet, strong.

God’s love is yellow—mature life in springtime, the subtle shift of spring into summer.

God’s love is yellow—the breathless chatter of an excited child, a crazy dance in a field of flowers—God’s love is yellow.

God’s love is yellow like sunshine on daisies, the slow warmth of joy creeping into your soul after the dark death of night—a new morning.

God’s love is yellow. 

Green...

God's love is green, new life, unfurled, bleeding slow with all the promises of new beginnings; new leaf--new life, curled tight inside its shell, with anticipation busting, ready to sprout, grow in some unsuspecting soil, breaking free from the icy clutches of white. Yes, God's love is green.

Thankfulness

Recently, a friend challenged me to read the book “one thousand gifts” by Ann Voskamp, and to do her Joy Dare, which is a challenge to find joy in each moment of life, to give thanks in every circumstance, no matter how difficult. I haven’t finished the book, I’m like on page 47 or something, so I’ve hardly even cracked the cover, but it is already, how shall I put it...without trying to be redundant, challenging!

To find grace, to find a reason to give thanks always is hard, difficult, trying. I may never fully master it, but Paul writes that he learned to be content in every circumstance, and so I’m trying to take a journey in learning this—finding grace.

I was walking on the beach and God brought this thought to my mind: one of the reasons it is hard for me to find reasons for thankfulness in every situation is because I forget that every circumstance is full of God’s love. God’s love can be found in all things.

Almost 2 years ago, I read another book, which taught on how to think of God and teach who God was using tactile methods. It posed this question: What colour is God’s love? Since I read that book, I’ve been working on different pieces of creative writing answering that question.

This one just came to me this afternoon, and it is not so much a piece of creative writing as it is a list in which I can find God’s love, a list that shows me how and where I can be faithful because God’s love is in everything!

Here it is: it could go longer, but I thought for your sake...

God’s love is white, pure, like waves breaking, morning mist, clouds scrawled across the sky. Like morning dew glistens in the warming sun, still. God’s love is white—frothed milk laced with brown spilling over the top of a mug, beaches, ice draped over the earth, creating fairy worlds for imagination to play in—hoar frost, vanilla icing on yellow, yellow lemon cake, hammocks swaying under palm trees, frayed fishing nets bleached by sun and salt water, bubbles frothed by the tide. God’s love is white. Soft feathers floating through the air, freshly painted walls, stars twinkling white in the deep, deep night sky, God’s love is white, crystal, frozen water slowly sinking to the ground, breath white in the frosty air, lacy dresses filled with excitement and anticipation, translucent baby skin. God’s love is white. 

Journeys

Journeys are the midwives of thought...
Large thoughts
At times requiring
Large views,
And new thoughts,
New places.
Introspective
Reflections which are liable
To stall are helped along by
The flow of the
Landscape.
—Allan  de Botton, The Art of Travel

I have been back in the Cook Islands for 3 weeks now. All the traveling has made me think of journeys. I came across this quote this afternoon, while I was at a coffee shop, flipping through magazines and chatting with tourists. I was especially struck by the first bit, Journeys are the midwives of thought...large thoughts, at times requiring large views, and new thoughts, new places.

Journeys are the midwives of thought...In other words, going on a journey, whether physically travelling, or going on a spiritual or emotional journey (that is experiencing growth, not some mystical trip into your mind or some fantasy world) will bring forth or birth thought.

Simply put, a journey brings you from one place to another. Which we all know, but God spoke to me through this. A journey will cause you to think of things differently, to see things differently.

If you get into a vehicle and the vehicle never leaves the spot where it is parked, you have not gone anywhere. You have not taken a journey. Let’s take it a step further.

If you take a journey and are exposed to different landscapes or different ways of doing things and you come home and you are exactly the way you were before, you have not been on a journey. Yes, you have gone somewhere physically, but your mind, who you are as a person, has not changed, you have not gone on a journey. Let’s take it one step further.

If God brings circumstances your way, uproots you from one place to another, causes you to face trials, no matter how hard or difficult, and after the trial or circumstance has passed, you are the exact same as you were before, you have not grown, you have not gone on a journey.

Paul likens our spiritual walk to a race. In a race you have a start and a finish. You begin somewhere and you end somewhere else. In our spiritual walks we are to take a journey. The things God takes us through bring us from being dead to sin to being alive and one with God.

This challenged me. There are things that I go through at times that make me want to resent God, that make me ask God, why? But this afternoon I realized that I can choose how to respond to the challenges God brings my way. I can resent God, stay stubborn, and never leave the start line, but I will never go on a journey, I will never see what else God has in store for me.

Or I can choose to face the difficulty, leave the start line and begin the long, grueling journey to the finish line. I will probably want to give up sometimes—anyone who runs knows that there are days you hurt too much to want to keep running—and there will be times I might just sit down in the middle of the race, but if I run the race, I know that God will take me on a journey with these words as a reward, Well done child, enter into My joy.

But i have to choose to run the race, I have to choose to take the journey.

During one of our daily prayer times, God revealed the importance of this choice to me. This is what I wrote in my journal—

God provides us with salvation, with life, with our very breath.
Satan comes only to steal, to kill, to destroy.
Choose you this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

I choose to run the race. I choose to take the journey.

Many Thanks

Well, it has been awhile since I have posted anything. My apologies for that. I left the Cook Islands at the end of May.
I spent a lovely 2 days in Sydney, Australia. I got to meet up with a few friends. From there I flew to Bangkok, Thailand. I spent 2 days in Bangkok before flying to Vancouver via China. I flew into Grande Prairie from Vancouver, where my parents and sister Lanae were waiting for me, and we drove home that night, arriving in Buffalo Head Prairie at 3am.
Thank you to everyone who prayed for me during my travels.

From the time I arrived home I just hung out at home with family and I visited a few friends. My apologies to anyone I didn't see while in La Crete, but I was mostly just at home with my brothers and sisters.

Thank you to everyone who had me over or took me out for a meal. It was greatly appreciated and I pray that God blesses you. Last week I had a report at Tompkins Evangelical Church on what I have been involved in at YWAM Cook Islands.

I am writing this short update from Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. I am flying out of Calgary tomorrow for the Cook Islands, and am currently planning on being there for another year.

Please pray for me as I go back to the Cooks, that God will continue to use me and that He will continue to lead me and guide me every day.

God Bless you all.

Radical...

I just finished a book called ‘Radical’ by David Platt. I would like to recommend it to everyone. The book is about how Jesus said His followers would leave everything, security, money, convenience, comfort, even family, for the sake of the gospel.

‘Radical’ doesn’t tell everyone to become a missionary and literally leave home to follow Christ, but to simply obey God’s call in the everyday, and to actually take up your cross daily.

God really challenged me while I was reading this book. I mean here I am, actually living on the other side of the world, living very little according to North American standards, but still, I have a roof over my head, clothes on my back, I eat every day, I have access to clean drinking water, and so I am part of the top 15% of the world for wealth.

It made me realize that although I have given up so much for the sake of the Gospel, I actually have a lot more left to give. I read Gospel For Asia’s stories of how their pastors and missionaries are starving and beaten and persecuted. The church in Africa has a huge number of people dying because of aids or starvation. There are people around the world who live in areas where hearing machine gunfire or other sounds of war are just a normal part of life. Imagine growing up in the middle of a war.

Here’s a paraphrase from ‘Radical’:
Statistically 1/3 of the world is classified as being ‘Christian’, whether religiously, socially, or politically. Likely, not all of them are actually followers of Christ. But even if we assume they are that still leaves 4.5 billion people who are going to hell.

4.5 billion

That’s a lot. Platt writes: Jesus commands us to go. He has created each of us to take the gospel to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, and I propose that anything less than radical devotion to this purpose is unbiblical Christianity.

The book ends with a challenge, called The Radical Experiment, which is to last a year. The reader is challenged to 5 things:

1.       To pray for the entire world

2.       Read through the entire Word

3.       Sacrifice your money for a specific purpose (not give, but sacrifice)

4.       Spend your time in another context (to go on a short term missions trip, etc)

5.       Commit your life to a multiplying community (in other words, to build disciples)

I don’t necessarily recommend Nickleback as good, edifying & uplifting music, but I want to quote you something from one of their songs:

One more depending on a prayer and we all look away/People pretending everywhere , it’s just another day/There’s bullets flying through the air and  we still carry on/We watch it happen over there and we just turn it off//We must stand together...Hand in hand forever/That’s when we all win//They tell us everything’s alright and we just go along/How can we fall asleep at night, when something’s clearly wrong/When we could feed a starving world with what we throw away/But all we serve are empty words that always taste the same// We must stand together...Hand in hand forever/That’s when we all win

If a secular band can see the need for this, the value for community, the need to share wealth, the need for war to end, the need for physical and emotional healing in people, the need for us to do something...then what are we doing as the church? What are we doing as the people who are supposed to know of true freedom, true peace, true salvation?

One of my friends from Australia sent me the book. On the inside cover she wrote this:

Live Radical lives normally, as in, live your everyday life radically. After all, we serve a radical Saviour!

So yeah, I recommend that you read ‘Radical’ but if you are too busy to read another book, I want to challenge you just to read the Bible and live out what you find written in the gospels. It’s my challenge to myself as well, I want to take up my cross and die daily...

Something I wrote last week:

Sometimes when I train in the morning, I hear the loud roar of the sea as she greedily sucks the tide into her abyss against her will, groaning with the knowledge that she will have to release it again in a few short hours, and I stop. I wonder why I’m actually here on a tiny tropical island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, drowning in the aromatic scent of guava and tiare, watching the sun rise pink over the lagoon.

I remind myself that I’m here to train, not just physically, although some mornings my body aches and I can hardly muster the strength to rise. The truth is, my spirit aches more. I’m training for a vision that doesn’t come from myself, for a goal that comes directly from the Father, a goal that I might never see accomplished on this side of heaven, a vision that isn’t just for me, but that many hands have toiled for throughout the years.

Paul writes, I press on toward the goal that is set before me. Sometimes it is a constant pressing. We can get so lost in the day to day we have to stop and physically remove ourselves from what we are doing and ask God to once again give us His heart.

God is pressing for this, the salvation of the world. It is His passion, His heartbeat. He lives for the lost, literally, He died so He could rise again and offer true life. God is training me so I can accomplish His purposes.

It makes the soul ache worth it!

8 April 2013

We’ve been having girls and guys groups on Friday mornings. This past Friday we looked at Anna, the woman who prophesied at Jesus’ dedication in the temple. (Luke 2). There are only three verses on Anna in the whole Bible, but we learned so much from her life. Firstly, she made worship and prayer her life-long passion. The Bible says she lived in the temple, offering up prayers and fasting. She made God her only focus. She must have had a very intimate relationship with God.

Secondly, she chose to trust God for everything. In a culture where women had very little value and no way of providing for themselves without a man in their lives, she chose to pursue a path that would lead her directly to the Messiah. There is no way she would have known that when she set out but she chose to live by faith.

Thirdly, she was aware of what was going on around her. She didn’t live with her head buried in the sand. She didn’t let hard circumstances define her life, instead she watched and waited, and prayed and hoped for the future. God honoured her choices and He allowed her to see the redemption of Israel. It says that when she saw the baby she offered thanksgiving to God and told everyone she knew that the redemption of Israel had arrived.

Lastly, she never quit. Some commentaries say she was probably around a hundred years old when she saw the Messiah. At a hundred most people are dead or dying, but she still lived in the temple, serving God. I was especially challenged in this. There are days when I just live for my breaks. There are days that I get through by thinking of how I can just relax in the evening or the weekend. Not saying that it’s wrong to take breaks, because it’s not, it’s vital and important to have rest. God ordained it in fact. However, God calls us to battle daily, He calls us to pick up our crosses and follow Him daily, not just once, or until a certain age, but always. We are to be on guard always. We are to live radically. We are to be content in our service of Him.

That’s one of things God has really been challenging me with lately. I’ve been spending a lot more time in the Word and I’ve been challenged in prayer. God only breaks through barriers and walls in a nation through prayer and obedience to His Word.

God has been speaking to me this week of how even the smallest things I do, I need to see as furthering His kingdom. Everything can be covered in prayer and when I have some free time, I can always go to the prayer room or go for a prayer walk or pull out my Bible and begin to pray for the nations.

This past week, I’ve been learning accounts and communication for the base, as I’m filling in for the base director’s wife when she leaves for Australia to have her baby. I also spent Easter weekend visiting some friends and helping out with some church outreaches. I’ve slowly been making friends with people off base, and I’m hoping that these relationships will begin to make a positive impact in the community.

Some prayer requests:

·         I’m going to a Missions Conference and then a YWAM Asia-Pacific Gathering in Thailand at the end of May, and then home to see family for a few weeks before coming back to the Cook Islands. Please pray for God’s provision for my airfares, etc, as well as for safety and the opportunity to learn from missionaries from around the world.

·         Pray for continued strength and wisdom as I take on more responsibility here at the base.

·         Pray that I would continue to build relationships with the people around me and see them come to Christ, especially the youth.

Well, the weeks have been flying by since the last time I updated this blog. As a base, we’ve been pushing hard into a new season. Inventory has been done, new schedules are in place, rooms are being plastered, cassava has been planted, new guidelines are in place. It’s a season of finishing the old and bringing in the new.

I’m feeling very accomplished this afternoon. The library for the base is officially finished. It was a month long project, and I spent many hours sitting in the office cataloguing and recording books. I spent many evenings in the library area, but now I am finished. It’s a good feeling to have.

I spent the better part of last week in Aitutaki, meeting up with old friends and starting new friendships. God has been giving me a larger heart for reaching into the outer islands of the Cook Islands, especially for building relationships with the youth.

I’ve been attending a women’s cell group (more infrequently than I’d like) on Tuesday evenings, and I’m hoping to build some friendships with girls my age.

I’m tackling some art projects for the prayer room, as well as for the Lecture Room upstairs. So I’m staying pretty busy.

However, mostly, God is growing in me a heart for prayer. Since I’ve taken on leading our Intercession times, God has been speaking to me about how I need to develop a heart for prayer. I’ve been reading and prepping my heart, and I’m looking at ways that I can do my part to lead the base into a lifestyle of world-transforming prayer.

This morning during intercession we prayed into various nations around the world. We looked at 2 Kings 4:8-37 where we see that we need to have a heart for the people we are praying for. We need to identify with them and feel with them in order to effectively pray for them. The bible says to “Weep with those who weep, and rejoice with those who rejoice.” I believe that this is a vital part to prayer.

Anyway, until next time…Ka kite and kia manuia.

February 2013

As I sit here and think of what to write, I’m realizing that I’m really excited. God is such an amazing and incredible God! On January 31^st we started a 21 day fast together as a base. Every night we got together to have a time of prayer and devotion, and on Wednesdays we ran a prayer chain from 5 in the morning until 7 at night. During these 3 weeks we have been praying for God to give us new direction and vision, for new ministries to start, to finish the base, for more staff, for schools to run, and so many more things. And in the 3 weeks we have already begun to see the answer to many of our prayers.

We joined with one of the youth groups in the village and have been asked to join with another as an on-going ministry. We’ve received a few staff inquiries, as well as inquiries from different mission builders and outreach teams. We’ve received 4 inquiries for our September DTS, and we have speakers lined up for 4 weeks already, and it’s not even the end of February!

As a base, we’ve begun to tackle inventory and the base policies and guidelines. We’re doing a lot of sorting and moving around at the moment, so we’ve been busy.

Personally, I’ve taken on two different areas. The first is Base Intercession. Everyone on the base prays together Tuesday mornings, and I felt like this was something God wanted me to get involved in. I’ve been leading this for the past month. This past week, I was also asked to oversee the Prayer Room. So what am I actually doing? Well, for Tuesdays, I have made up a roster so that everyone on base takes turns leading the prayer meeting. In the Prayer Room, I’m in charge of making sure everything stays in order and easy to use for anyone who feels led to pray in it. There are also a few things that I’d like to get the base involved in, when it comes to prayer. The first is the International Day of Prayer in November. The second is 30 Days of Prayer during Ramadan. So I’ve started researching and organizing events for those 2 time periods.

The second area that I’m taking on is the base library. We have a lot of books in storage that really need to be brought out. I’d also like to organize it more as proper library and work on getting more books for the library, especially different study tools, such as Bible dictionaries, atlases, etc.

The lady that does the base accounts and communication is going to Australia soon to have her baby, so I’ll also be filling in for her while she’s gone. So that’s a bit of what I’m involved in now. There are a lot of things going on around the base, and I’m trying to help out wherever I can.

It’s amazing to see God work. It’s good to see Him bring about new seasons. And it’s good to be able to contribute to His work. There are a lot of things that I’m not super gifted in. I’m not an evangelist or a preacher, I’m not gifted in music or drama, but I’m able to contribute to His work in the areas that He’s gifted me in. 1 Corinthians 12 talks about the different members of the body, and how each one plays a part. It’s something God has really been speaking to me about lately. There are certain things I may not be good at doing, but He has set a specific task for me to do, and I need to do my best at it in order to build the body of Christ. 

DTS UPDATE...POST 4

On January 5, 2013, we flew from Tahiti direct back to the Cook Islands. It’s about a 2 hour flight. We stayed with the CICC in Arorangi. (CICC being the Cook Island Christian Church—the church first established by the missionaries). The church was having its annual week of prayer, and we went to 5 am church services all week long. The CICC has become quite traditional in its views and it was interesting that the topic for the week had quite a bit to do with being born again, as most of the CICC members don’t believe in being born again or the Holy Spirit. Our team joined with the services and ran one of the mornings. We also helped out in the village and ran a women’s Bible study, at the request of the pastors’ wives.

We were really encouraged to see the move of God in the CICC. Our last morning service we witnessed an altar call, which is apparently the first altar call seen at a CICC in over 50 years. Some of the deacons came and spoke to us throughout the week about how YWAM used to play a huge part in the church in the 70’s and 80’s, so we’re hoping to rebuild those connections with the younger people in the church. They invited us to continue to teaching and reaching out through the Bible Studies they run, as well as asking if we might help out with the band.

We’re praying through these options as the school is finished now and there are only a handful of staff on base...however, before I go into that, let me continue with our time of outreach in the Cook Islands.

After our week in Arorangi, we moved back to the base. When we moved back to the base there was a teen missions group of around 30 that were doing a few building projects. Our students helped them in the afternoons, and got to build some really good connections with the youth, and many of them are thinking of coming and doing a DTS here in the Cooks once they turn 18. We’ll see how God leads them, but it’s exciting to see another generation be impacted for God, as well as seeing how 13-16 year olds are thinking of serving God full-term. During our week at the base, we held debrief in the mornings, and had team devotion/Bible Study times in the evening. On Saturday, the 19^th of January, the students graduated from their DTS. The students are all still on the islands. Two of them are flying back home in a few days, and two are staying on as staff. And that is DTS over, done and gone. Myself and the team leader just finished wrapping up paperwork and forms and things today, and we’re heading into our week off before we start with other base ministries, and preparations for the next school.

As a base, we’re starting 3 weeks of fasting and prayer on January 31. We’re looking at starting new ministries, finding a vision for the year, building relationships into the community, and basically just growing in what God wants us to do, personally, spiritually, and in ministry.

What is Darla planning on doing? Is probably a question on a lot of your minds. I’m not committing to anything at the moment. I will be praying through a few different options through my week off, as well as through our time of prayer and fasting. I will definitely be staying with YWAM. My thoughts are either to take a second level course with YWAM and then return to the Cooks and continue staffing, or to go to a base in Canada, and serve the Lord in some capacity through whatever ministries are being run. I really love DTS though, and love seeing the change and growth in individual’s lives as they seek to model their lives after Christ and to fall passionately in love with Him, so I would like to stay with the Discipleship Training School. But I’ll decide after I’ve slept for a week and just had time to process what God has taught me in the last 5 months. Please pray for me as I continue to seek His will for the future. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. It’s been amazing to see the hand of God work through this DTS, and we could not have finished this strong without the prayers of all of you. So Meitaki Maata (thank you) and have a blessed New Year. Ka Kite (Good-bye for now)

DTS UPDATE...POST 3

From Auckland we flew to Tahiti. We were met by Papa Tu and Mama Anna Glassie, a pastoral couple we knew from Aitutaki, Cook Islands. They are on a four year pastoral term in Tahiti. A few of the prominent people of the village we were about to stay in were there to meet us as well. From the airport we had a 1 ½ hour drive to Teahupoo. It was an interesting hour and a half of trying to communicate with our drivers as they spoke mostly French, and we were all very English.

We arrived in Teahupoo after midnight and we were up by 7 the next morning as there was already a program arranged for us for that morning. We went to the school and met a lot of children and quite a few teachers. It was the last day of school before the summer holidays and so we were privileged to see the Christmas program and be invited to a feast afterward. We rested for part of the afternoon and then a lot of the youth came around and we learned a few Tahitian songs that we were supposed to help them perform on Sunday night, at the opening of the Christmas festival.

During our time in Tahiti we joined in a lot of different youth holiday programs, as well as building relationships with the youth of a few different districts. I went home for Christmas this year, so I spent a week in Tahiti, a week at home (with traveling) and then flew back to Tahiti for our last week of outreach. I really enjoyed my time at home and was able to be home, not only for Christmas, but for my sister Tiffany’s baptism as well. I saw a lot of family, and had a very cold Christmas, but it was very enjoyable.

Flying back to Tahiti took me into 30+ weather, and I got a bit sick because of the drastic change in temperature. God was faithful though, and even through not feeling well, I was able to reconnect with the girls I’d met the week before, and just continue to build solid friendships. We held a youth ministry night one of our last nights there and were able to speak into the youth’s lives through testimonies and skits and songs.

We also connected with YWAM Tahiti when we first arrived in the country and spent quite a bit of time with the team, even though they were on a different side of the island. YWAM Tahiti is in the process of being established, at the moment it’s just a pioneering team; however, we were able to pray with them and learn from them while we were there, and were just super blessed by what God is doing through them...

To Be Continued...

DTS UPDATE...POST 2

The first week in New Zealand, we partnered with a branch of Salvation Army in Wellington. We joined with youth programs, children’s programs, ladies night, rugby games, and a few other programs. The team also spent quite a bit of time in prayer through prayer walks, intercession, and spent an afternoon up on one of the hills overlooking the city, praying for the city. We also split the team up in twos and sent them out to a nearby mall for shopping mall evangelism.

We drove back to Auckland at the end of the week, and stayed with a couple on the eldership team of the Gate (the church we primarily partnered with during our stay in Auckland). We attended a wedding and performed and served during the reception. The next day we were welcomed into the church with a traditional Maori ceremony. During our two weeks in Auckland, we served with the Gate. The Gate was in the process of moving into a new building so that their existing building could be renovated. We spent a fair bit of time, cleaning, packing and moving items from one building to the next. We also joined with their afterschool child care program, youth activities, Christmas teas, and a community Christmas event held by the local council. We were extremely blessed by the hospitality shown to us by the various people we stayed with, as well as with the church family that we were able to serve with and build relationships with.

During our two weeks in Auckland, we also partnered with the local YWAM base. We spent a few Wednesday nights with them, attending their potlucks and worship meeting. One night, our team led the worship and teaching. They were also really lovely, and set up prayer stations for us in downtown Auckland, and we were able to partner with them in praying for various people and evangelizing people we met on the streets. Our team was stretched extremely, but we all thoroughly enjoyed it, and both of the nights we partnered with them we were able to see people come to know the Lord.

We also partnered with a branch of the Salvation Army while in Auckland. We were able to help them with their food and gift distribution projects. We spent two days with them, and had an amazing time both days.

To Be Continued...

DTS UPDATE...POST 1

Kia Orana everyone!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Looking back on the past five months of DTS brings a mass of chaotic emotion to my heart and mind. God has been so good. As a team, we’ve seen the faithfulness of God in many different situations. We can’t say that the DTS has been easy, but it has been life-changing. Not just for the students, but for the staff as well. God has changed my heart in so many different ways.

I have been extremely blessed to serve alongside so many people from around the world. I have also been blessed to see God work and move in so many different ways.

Lecture Phase went really well. We sat under the teaching of various men and women of God, who were able to pour God’s heart and their wisdom and life experience into us. During Lecture Phase, our team began to meld together as we learned about each other and about God. God broke through various barriers in each of our lives and drew us closer to Him. We began to learn to worship together and to hear God’s voice together as a team.

As staff we began to organize and pray for Outreach from the beginning of the school. After the first month, we decided to go to Tahiti on outreach. In order to bring the whole team over, we found out we first had to travel to Wellington, New Zealand in order to get visas for a few of our team members. We applied for New Zealand visas during the second month of Lecture, and received those visas. We then began to organize places to stay and ministries for our team to join. We received virtually no word back, but we were sure this was what God wanted us to do. We started on the paperwork for our Tahitian visas and started fundraising for our flights. About 2 weeks before we left for New Zealand we finally had the funds to book our tickets. A week before we left, we still had no place to stay in Wellington, and we weren’t sure what we were going to do. I never told the school leader, but the Saturday before we flew out, I told God He had to do something, He had to come through, because I wasn’t going to take a team somewhere with no place to stay. The next morning, we were having breakfast before church, and a guy randomly popped by. He started asking about the trip and if we had a place to stay or not and the school leader said no. He then said his sister lived down there, and we could probably stay with her, not for the whole 3 weeks, but for a few days.

As that accommodation started getting organized, we started to look for places to stay in Auckland as well. One of the pastors we know offered us a place to stay and ministry for us to do. We left the Cook Islands on Saturday, and arrived in Auckland Monday morning (because of time difference). We spent a few hours in Auckland before driving to Wellington. The next day were the appointments for the Tahitian visas at the French Embassy. The visa process was supposed to take 15 working days. The team walked out of the Embassy 20 minutes later with their Tahitian visas. Praise God!

To Be Continued...