I think that I missed my calling as a hair dresser. I just trimmed Marit's hair and it looks bom diggity. And then I trimmed Hannah Robinson's hair. I may have made Hannah's too short, but it looks good and she didn't complain... woot! Maybe everyone will want me to cut their hair now. I will just have to find someone willing to trim mine! Also, I have decided that any man that loves boobs should be a hair dresser. He could 'accidentally' touch women's breasts all day long!
The past couple of days have been so intense. Friday was the last day of circuit riders. We went to lecture in the morning, but it wasn't really much of a lecture. We got to practice preaching the gospel in our outreach groups. We also got to sing fun songs and stuff. Our team is the most musical. So that part was pretty exciting. Also, Van got to preach a bit and lead a bit and he really gained a lot of confidence. I am so proud of my little Jakey. In THOP that evening he even went up and said a prayer in front of everyone. What a guy.
Before we departed from the lecture room, there was a prayer session in which everyone prayed for all of us Matamata DTSers. There was this one girl named Wendy who immediately came over to me. She asked me my name and said that God was telling her a bunch of stuff about me:
"God gave me the word Justice. You have a real strong desire for justice, and you HATE injustice. Especially injustice towards children and vulnerable persons. But you get frustrated because you have such strong feelings towards injustice, but feel like since you are just one person that you cannot make a difference. And this has lead you to block off your emotions towards injustice around the world, and try not to think about it. But God wants you to know that those emotions are a gift, and that He has given you His heart for injustice. That is why you feel so strong, because you feel what He feels. He wants you to embrace this and use this. He has made you strong enough to handle these emotions. Most people wouldn't be strong enough, but you are. And even though you are only one person, God has given you a voice and you will be able to impact many people and people will listen to you. You are a warrior against injustice, and within your lifetime you will bring an end to some injustices. I see you as the only woman in line with men. You will go places and do things that no other women can't handle. You are a warrior. I have heard tribal war drums and war cries. You will fight and win."
And then, as if that didn't blow me away enough, Josh Cole came over and started to prophesy over me too and he said:
"God knows that you have been fighting an internal battle this past week. He knows that you have been struggling and suffering. But He wants you to know that this is a good thing. He has given you the heart of a fighter and the will to never give up. This is just the beginning though. This is just training for the future and the future fights that you will struggle with. You are not here to run a sprint with God. It is a marathon. And you are training for it now. Because God has called you into service with Him not for just a short time, but for life. You will be doing His work for the next 30-40 years. So keep fighting, Steph. Never give up."
Oh man. I almost died. I am still overwhelmed. And I am sure that there is more to both of these that I just can't remember at the moment. My brain is going through an overload. I think I will be chewing on these prophesies for quite some time.
On Friday afternoon, we went down to the Mount (Mt. Maunganui). Thursday the staff had told us that there would be an opportunity to be baptized at the Mount in the Ocean on Friday afternoon for anyone who was interested. I didn't think that I was interested. I was baptized as a baby, and confirmed in my teens. I do believe that my baptism as a baby was real, but I kind of wondered if my confirmation was legit. I felt like I was kind of forced to go through confirmation, and at the time I didn't really want Jesus in my life. But I still believed that I had been baptized. So I didn't go forward and say that I wanted to be baptized. So down at the water, Kyle, Marit, Tasia, Van, Anne, and Matt were getting baptized. They all said their blurbs about why they want to be baptized, and read out a bible verse that fit for them. Then we sang Amazing grace on the beach. Kyle went first, then Marit, then Matt, and Tasia and Van. The whole time I was kind of fighting with God. I was really feeling like I should be baptized again, but I didn't know how my church would feel about that since we don't really do adult emersion stuff. But once I saw Van, and how much he was glowing I knew that I had to do it. It had been on my heart ever since the staff first mentioned it. I asked Carly if it was too late for me to get baptized, she said "Of course not!" and she was so excited! She said, "I knew God would talk to you about it, I knew you would get baptized." Ha. Oh God. What a funny guy.
So, after Anne went, I got to tell everyone why I wanted to be baptized. I said "I wasn't sure if I wanted to do this since I was baptized already as a baby. But on Thursday evening I promised God that I would lay everything down for Him and I really meant it. I feel like getting baptized now is a symbol of my new life with God and my new devotion to God. I also know that God has renewed me and washed my clean since I have been here, so this is the perfect way to signify that and to proclaim it to the world."
My verse was 2 Corinthians 5: 17,
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
It was so cool. I got baptized in the ocean in New Zealand. In my clothes because I was not prepared! And Carly, since she is the best one on one ever, came in the water with me in her jeans! I love her. It was so ME. It is just like me to wait until the last minute like that, and it made it all the more special. I got to get baptized in my everyday clothes, and everyone rejoiced. It was so cool.
Afterwards we sang 'Beneath the Waters (I will rise)' on the beach afterwards. It was beautiful. But freezing cold.
And then when I was changing by the van and some man saw my bum. Oooops. What a good start to your new life, Steph.
I feel like I should throw in a funny story since I haven't been that comical in my blogs recently. While we were in Mt Maunganui, we walked to the strip and got a smoothie, and we wore no shoes. I was with Hannah Robinson and Kat, and on the way back the rocky pavement was hurting my feet so I was walking in the grass, but I spotted some glass... I got freaked out a bit and said "Uh oh, glass, I'm gonna get herpes." Everyone was kinda like "...?" and then I was like "OOOPS! Wrong disease, I meant hepatitis" Bahaha. Only I could get herpes by stepping on broken glass. Haha!
Finally, Friday evening, as a finish to Circuit Riders, we went out evangelizing to the bar folks. We went down to the Mount again. We were not too excited because everyone was exhausted, but we figured we should finish strong. So Brent and I decided that we would be a good pair - him with his mohawk and me with my homeless grandmother outfit. And Hannah Robinson joined us. We walked down the street and got rejected quite a few times, and when we got to Burger King, we saw a man standing on the corner. We approached him and said Hi and started talking to him about Jesus. The guy's name was Kevin, and he was probably in his 50s or so. He was ex-military. He said that he believed in Jesus and wanted Jesus for his wife and children, but didn't think that he deserved to have Jesus in his life or that he deserved to go to heaven. He was so burdened by all of the things that he had done and the things that he had seen during his service in the military. We tried to tell him that Jesus doesn't care what he has done and that Jesus wants to set him free from his guilt and pain. But Kevin said that he deserved to be in pain because of the horrible things that he had done. We told him about when Jesus was beaten within an inch of death, and nailed to the cross, he said "Father forgive them for they do not know what they do". If he can forgive the people that killed him, he can surely forgive Kevin. But Kevin didn't want to believe it. I told Kevin my testimony about how God freed me from nightmares and guilt and shame, and that even though my story and sin is probably not comparable to Kevin's it doesn't matter. Kevin can be freed the same as me. He teared up a bit. And thanked me for my honesty. He told us that he appreciated our chat but that he wanted to go. We wanted to pray for him, but he wouldn't let us. But his wife then came out of burger king. Her name is Hazel.
She had been inside, and Elisa had been praying for her and praying for Kevin. Elisa was praying for Kevin at the exact minute that Hannah, Brent and I approached him. Man, God is so cool. Hazel wanted Kevin to let us pray for him, but he really didn't want it. He excused himself and headed for the car. Both Hannah and I were like "NOOOOO KEVIN, COME BACK!" all whiney and annoying. He probably was so annoyed haha. But then Brent ran after him by himself and chatted with him more at his car.
Hannah and I stayed by Burger King and interceded for them. We prayed for Kevin to open his heart for prayer.
While we were praying some guys ran by us and said "God hates you!" and me and Hannah were both like "But He loves you!!!" They didn't have a come back for that. Ha!
Then a bunch of our other friends came and joined us in intercession. We had a prayer huddle in the middle of the sidewalk, and when we looked up we could see that Brent was praying for Kevin. After a while we could feel something shift and Kevin actually smiled. Then him and Hazel got in their car. I waited on the sidewalk for them to drive by, and I waved at them and they honked and smiled!
Brent said that Kevin didn't get saved, but he got to pray blessings and love over him. And Hazel is a Christian, so we just will keep praying that she can have a break-through with him. I think he has a lot of demons that he needs to get rid of before he will be able to forgive himself or accept forgiveness from God, but I think we really touched him that night and I have hope that he will be saved. Please put Kevin in your prayers.
Last night was a late night after evangelism because we drove back to our base. We got home at 1 AM. Man, was it nice to be home. But man was I tired, so I skipped on my blog. Sorry! And then I slept for most of the day!
And now it is time for more sleep! Gute nacht!
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