Kia Ora!
It is week seven of my adventure in New Zealand! There are 12 weeks of DTS (Discipleship Training School) in total, so I am just over half way done! I have learned so much in the past 6 weeks. It seems like a lifetime!
New Zealand is such a beautiful country! In the northern part of the North Island, the rolling hills and beaches resemble British Columbia. The country around the YWAM base is very hilly, and very green and there are farms everywhere. They say that there are more sheep in New Zealand than there are people, but I think that there are possibly more cows than sheep! And the weather is just as unpredictable as it is in Calgary! I feel so at home when the weather changes abruptly!
This is what my cottage looks like! There are two bedrooms, one bathroom and a kitchen (which we use for storage of random things). I live in this cottage with 5 other girls! I love them all so much! Their names are Hannah, Noemi, Marit, Kat and Anne.
This is the view from the window in my cottage!
Matamata is a small rural town, and is about a 5 minute drive from the YWAM Crystal Springs base where I live. It is small, but it has lots of coffee shops, a grocery store and a store called the Warehouse - which is basically the Kiwi version of Walmart. Matamata is about 2 hours south of Aukland. There are a few big-ish cities within an hour of Crystal Springs. Hamilton is about an hour away. It is not a huge city, but not a small city. It doesn't have any special attractions, it's just a normal city. We have gone there to shop a bit. And there is a place called Tauranga which is about a 45 minute drive away. It is really cool there and more touristy. There is also a house of prayer there called Taurunga House of Prayer (THOP). We have been going to THOP lots for prayer and such things. There is a beach there called Mount Maunganui. It is so beautiful. We have gone there a lot of times to shop and hang out at the beach.
This is me with the school leader, Johanna, and my one-on-one Carly. This was a special day on the beach at Mount Maunganui.
Every week there is a speaker who speaks on a certain topic. I have been spoiled with so many amazing speakers.
Week 1: Holy Spirit (Mal Maloney)
Week 2: Hearing the Voice of God (Josh Cole)
Week 3: The Nature and Character of God (David Cole)
Week 4: The Father Heart of God (Frank Naea)
Week 5/6: Circuit Riders
Week 7: Heart Transplant (Goldie Gibson)
Each student is assigned a staff 'one-on-one' or mentor. This is me with my one-on-one, Carly. She is a super cute California girl who is about 4 feet tall! She is teaching me so much!
I would like to highlight Circuit Riders. Circuit Riders is a mini two-week evangelism course that trains one to go into the nations and save the lost, revive the saved and train them all. During those two weeks, there was huge growth and change. I was able to break off the spirits of sins in my life, including feelings of rejection, unbelief, unforgiveness, anger and fear. And I learned how to reach out to people who are lost and need to here God's message of love.
There were a few days of community outreach, during which I was able to talk to people on the street about the simple gospel - that Jesus died to save us from our sin and that God loves us all SO MUCH! There was a lot of rejection from people, but I was actually so amazed to see how hungry so many people are for everything that God has to offer! There is a movement of revival happening here in New Zealand, and we are all so excited about it! In the two weeks of Circuit Riders we saw 120 people give their lives to the Lord! And that was only 8 hours of focused evangelism!
A normal day at the base looks like this:
- Morning Prayer
- Breakfast
- Worship/Intercession
- Lectures
- Lunch
- Free time / Homework / Recreation / Local Outreach / Town trip (depending on the day of the week)
- Supper
- Free time / Small Groups / Worship (Open to the community) / SLEEP (depending on the day of the week)
There are three DTS focuses that students could choose from - Music and Worship, Outdoor Pursuits, or Surfers and Boarders. I am in the Music and Worship DTS. There are 10 of us in Music and Worship, 9 in Outdoor Pursuits, and 1 Surfer - She mostly joins with the outdoor people. In the Music and Worship group, we get to lead worship for the base, and on the weekends we usually have workshops on leading worship or on song writing. There have also been a few song writing challenges/assignments. The first was to write a song from a Psalm, or write your own Psalm. The second one I had to write a rap about Jonah and the Whale and perform it at open mike night. It was awesome. And the last one was to write a short, repetitive song.
I have made some amazing friends while I have been here. There are 7 Canadians, 4 Americans, 3 Germans, 1 Austrian, 1 Swiss, 1 Dutch, 2 Kiwi's, and 1 Fijian. I love them all so much!
Here we all are at Cathedral Cove (the Narnia beach)!!!
This is me and my Kiwi bestie Hannah! We have matching pants :)
After the DTS is over, I will be going on Outreach for about 2 months. Outreach is a mission trip. I am going to be sent to Lautoka, Fiji for 4 weeks to work at a Church there with a guy named Pastor Jare. I will be doing many types of ministry there including street evangelism, door knocking, helping out at the church and children's ministry. There was also a flood there recently, so we will be helping with restoration in the aftermath of the flood. After my time in Fiji, I will be coming back to New Zealand for the remainder of my Outreach. I will be in Paihia for one week working with Operation Jerusalem over New Years. In Paihia there is a big New Years party called Drunk Fest, where I will be working at a sausage sizzle and handing out free sausages and water to all of the partiers. This will be a great chance to minister to people and spread the love of God. Then I will be going to Kaitaia, New Zealand for 3 weeks. I will be working at a Church with a guy named Pastor Graeam. At this church my team and I will be putting together and running a childrens program. This should be similar to VBS I think! And finally I will be spending a week in South Aukland with a guy named Pastor Trent. South Aukland is an extremely rough neighbourhood. We will be helping out at the church and reaching out to the people on the streets. Throughout our DTS, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday we have a thing called Hope Cafe where the staff brings coffee and snacks which we can buy by donation and all proceeds go to the young women and prostitutes that live in South Aukland. So we will actually get to minister to these young women during out outreach!
This is my outreach team!!! We decided to shave our heads in honor of our team! From the left: Beth, Jacob, Hannah, Me, Jacob (Van).
Thank you all for your support and prayers! If you want to know more about the every-day events in my life I am keeping a blog which I update daily! You can find it at http://adventuresofstephreynolds.blogspot.co.nz/
God Bless,
Steph
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