Last Night at Chinese Fellowship

Last night I taught over how to find God in Narnia. I took seen main principles from the new Prince Caspian movie, and tried to apply it to everyday life. It was so cool afterwards because X, a woman who has only been in Palmerston North 10 days, came up to me afterwards. She said she lived in Christchurch for over 5 years and had flatmates there reading 1 peter saying *though you have not seen or heard...* and she told me for the first time in her life, she got it!

She said she had an issue of actually believing God and now it all made sense! Praise God! Pray for X. That she will grow in her faith to God and be obediant to His will for her life! We only have one full day left in Palmy! It seems like such a short trip! Pray for great weather as we debrief together next week in the South Island!

Can't wait to see you all again in the states!

Nav Attack Goes to Middle Earth

Saturday night we ventured to the oval at Massey University and began a duel of Nav Attack!

Nav Attack is an altered game of capture the flag where the flags are glowsticks. You have two teams and instead of tagging the opposing team with your hand, you use a stocking filled with flour. So we drew up the teams and started playing. It was one of my most fun nights here in New Zealand. Koyo sifted a bunch of flour in Janeens's hair and Jess tried to take me down only to end up on the ground.

After all the 5 kilo bag of flour was dispersed on the grass, we headed over to a short night hike to see glowworms. It was probably the sweetest short hike I've been on since Colorado Summer 2002. We worn our gumboots and walked over little trees and through the river. It stopped raining just long enough for us to go. It was very enjoyable. Pray for our last week here in Palmy. That the non-Christians we met will make wholesome friends and our conversations will be glorifying. Pray for endurance for the team as we go about the many activities and divine appointments scheduled for the week.

God is at work in Tempe, AZ so I thank you for your prayers. I prefer not to give details, but situation became unglorifying to God and God wanted that rectified. That is all.

Thanks again for all the prayers and support...i hope i've given you a glimpse of how they have been answered!

A Week In Palmerston North

I love this photo. It is a grandfather chasing his grandson on a beach in Wellington. It was a beautiful day, and it just reminded me of God chasing us. You see, the boy would run about 15 feet or so and then face plant. Full out..plunk. And then his grandfather would wait a second, the child would pick himself up, and begin to run again.

It has been a week full of running. Every now and then we get to *plunk* and just rest, but it has been amazing here in Palmy.

For starters, the church welcomed us with a Chinese potluck dinner. We are helping lead their Chinese Fellowship group on fridays and wee able to teach them the bridge, as well as, put on a mini-leadership course.

Last Monday, I shared my testimony at a J2 (Jesus and Japan) worship night the students held. It was intimate and at the end I truly didn:t even realize we had been there two hours!

We went to an International Student Orientation expecting to run into Chinese and other Asian students. Instead, God put Europeans and Americans in our paths! From North Carolina is sheep farming Austin and girlfriend Emily. Also from there is Buddhist Bryce, Plain-ole Paul, and Frisbee pros Peggy and Liz. We met an interesting young man from New York named Russ and a German from Muenster named Dorty. ( I am naming them all so you can pray! Austin and Emily are Baptist..the rest are pre-Christians!) We held an All Blacks (the NZ rugby team) party (in image) where you can see people from all over the world joined as the Christian groups on campus joined us. This Monday, we prayed for all of them by name and ended up seeing all but Emily and Dorty the next day!!! How amazing is that!

I've also been able to meet with Michelle from the conference and at least see Jess to set up a time to meet. There were hearts shared in our tie that was a blessing to see.

I've also seen a lot of universals...bring a food or frisbee, and students come! We started playing ultimate frisbee at a place called "The Oval" on campus lunch time on Wed. and Fri. A lot of the Americans came and went and more are supposed to be coming this Friday. Russ, from NY, is seen wearing what he calls shackles in this photo. Pray he can find the truth that will remove his earthly shackles and for opportunity to hold conversation with him about Jesus. He was great at teaching new players the game of Ultimate! (in photo, Dorty, Russ, Meredith, and Masa)

We even set up a game of NavAttack for this Sat. It is a game like capture the flag, but instead of tagging people by hand, you hit them with a baking flour filled stocking. You would not believe how excited the Japanese and Americans were to hear about this game! We are afterwards going searching for glowworms so this is a future prayer request that it goes well!

There have been a few situations back at home in AZ, so pray they are resolved quickly as my friends and I are covering the situation in prayer. Pray I can stay focused as much more is happening this next week. And Happy Belated Birthday Grandma!

the conference

I:m trying to think of where to begin attemping to explain what God showed me during the conference. We got in on Friday night and immediatey went to dinner. I sat by students from the Auckland Uni(university) and one from Palmy (palmerston orth where i curently am) Those students represented Malasyia, Singapore, New Zealand, Indonesia and America. The nations were together all at one table! That:s pretty much how I felt about the whole thing.

We all were welcomed by Val, a Maori believer where we traditionally were greeted and introduced to the TSCF (teritery student Christian fellowship) conference. Every morning we would have some time in the word, breakfast, and then a morning talk. The theme of the conference was :lives that count: it was all missions oriented! How cool was it for me to see these students on fire for God:s word to go global!

After one of the talks, I was able to share the bridge with two students after they asked for ways to apply being ale to reach out to your schools. I made some amazing friends from Palmy and most of us are getting together again on Wed. and Fri. to play ultimate on their campus and try to recruit people for their equivalent of NavNite.

We went to a Buddhist temple as a group and I witnessed God:s prescense inimidate a monk. I saw students hunger for the LORD in such a way. We got to laugh with these students and introduce Extreme Uno to them. We met and prayed through the psalms with them. We got to cry from laughing so hard. I:m sothankful for the hearts of all the students I met and can:t wait to see them again.

Pray for Jess, Michelle, and Nicole. They are three believers from round the world studying here in Palmy and I:m praying we can meet and encourage one another.

Middle Earth!

I don't have enough time to express what this past week has been like. Hopefully I'll have more money and internet time tomorrow to do so. We went to Hobbiton today to see where Lord of the Rings was filmed after a week of a very intense mission based conference. I had the ability to teach the bridge and encourage students in their walk while also making connections for our time in Palmy (Palmerston North) next week. I met some great new friends and I cannot post photos now, but will try to very soon. I am so excited for these upcoming weeks!

PRAYER REQUEST!!! I am not used to the cold! As a result, I am a little under the weather now. Pray i'll feel better quickly!

Thank you so much for commenting too! I love getting contact from the outside world!