The van took off and started driving to some unknown location. We were thinking that it was probably some sort of scavenger hunt for the day or something. So we drove for what seemed like hours, well I slept so it seemed like a long time to me, we got to Rotarua and then Sean pulled the van over and told the first team to get out. So Rebekah, Marit and Kyle got out. We left them by a backpakers place or something like that.
We kept driving further into Rotarua towards the town center. It smelled like farts. We all blamed Jacob. And the smell started to fill the van to the point that the windows fogged up. I thought we would die. But then we found out that the smell wasn't Jacob, it was Rotarua. Rotarua is actually a really touristy place because it has a lot of geothermal activity in the ground underneath of it. There are parts of the ground that actually feel warm when you walk on it. And all throughout the city there is sulfur smell released from the ground. There are lots of steaming lakes and bubbling mudpits releasing steam all throughout the city. So if Jacob was farting, the sulfur was concealing it. So I guess we will never know if Jacob did fart in the van that morning...
Sean pulled over at a grocery store and told us to get out. We were given a bag with a pack of uncooked penne noodles and two sanitary pads and an envelope. We opened the envelope and found a letter enclosed. This is what it read:
WELCOME TO FAITH WEEKEND!!!
What is faith weekend you ask? The obvious answer is that it is a weekend designed to give you opportunity to exercise your faith. We have spent the day yesterday proclaiming who God is, His power, His provision and we laid down everything to follow Him. So that is what we are going to do this weekend. We are going to lay down everything and just follow him.
RULE #1: Don't freak out.
It's time to see God move and provide for you in ways and in an experience you may never get to have again. You have made a huge leap of faith coming here to New Zealand, which is a beautiful country and it's full of people with life changing stories and just plain old adventure! This weekend is all about laying down your rights, pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and relying FULLY on God to provide food, accommodation, and transportation for your team.
RULE #2: Just have fun!
Remember, prayer is the most powerful tool you have, and after that, it's a good attitude. Be open to what God is trying to teach you this weekend, He is always speaking through every situation, circumstance and through people that you would never expect revelation to come from. If your team can do both, you will see God move in powerful ways. Remember to always work as a team and support, encourage, lift up and carry one another.
Also remember this: This is YOUR DTS, and what you get out of it all depends on what you put into it.
You are the wave. Step out in faith! You can't expect to be bold in the big things when you don't step out in the little things first.
RULE #3: Be open! Get creative!
Make the most of this opportunity! You WILL find food, you WILL find a place to stay and you WILL find transportation back to the base. Think outside of the box, get creative: Who is the most interesting person you met? How many places did you go? Where is the furthest that you got? Have you touched people's lives?
This is going to be an incredible adventure, and when you look back you will have an amazing story of God's provision and faithfulness. But remember that God is always faithful in the midst of your trials and that is when we need to trust Him, stand on that solid foundation, and commit to following Jesus NO MATTER WHAT!
God is with you and He is good ALL the time!
BE BACK AT THE BASE ON SUNDAY AT 5:30PM AT THE LATEST! IF YOU CANNOT MAKE IT YOU HAVE TO GIVE US A CALL!
We laughed. So hard. We took a photo and then went to the McDonalds across the street. Did I mention that it was pouring rain? Well, it was pouring rain.
In McDonalds we went to the bathroom, chatted with a lady named Lynette about Jesus and prayed for her to find a job. Then we decided to walk around outside and see where God would lead us. We were walking around in the downtown area, we stopped a few people and told them about Jesus and prayed for them. When we reached a corner I really felt like we needed to turn left, so we turned. At the end of the street we turned down there were some people setting up an amp and some microphones in a little square. So we decided to sit there and eat our lunch and listen to some music. The square was covered by a tarp-ish thing that blocked us mostly from the rain. A guy came up to us and offered us some chocolate, and told us that he is with a local church and that they were doing a community outreach, and singing some songs for part of the afternoon.
When we told him we are with YWAM and that we are doing a faith weekend, he wanted us to go up to the mics and tell our testimonies. So we did. And then they found out that we are with a music and worship DTS, so they asked if we would sing some songs. So we basically lead worship in a random town square in the pouring rain. It was pretty awesome. We sang 'Grace Like Rain' and I was just blown away by the awesomeness of God.
A couple that was there with the church offered us supper and a place to stay for the night. We were so excited! We had only been in Rotarua for an hour or so and God had given us a meal and shelter. So we got their phone number and wandered around town for the rest of the afternoon. It was pretty wet and rainy. We talked to this one lady on the street for about an hour about Jesus and God and whether or not Jesus is God. She believed in God and that God is everywhere, which is true. But she did not believe that Jesus was God. It was a really interesting conversation and we talked about all sorts of things. She knew a lot about Jesus and the bible because she had been raised Catholic, but she also was influenced by tribal religions and such things. It was really a thought-provoking chat and I think that she will go home and read the bible. I am pumped. And I think that she will ask God to reveal to her the true nature of Jesus. It will be awesome!
After that chat we were frozen and damp. We wandered a bit more and found a guitar store. We went in and had another little worship sesh until the shop closed. Then we wandered a bit more and found a random art studio. The owner was there and invited us in. It was his place where he paints and such, but he allows other artists to display their work and sell their work out of his studio for free! Cool! So we got to look around. There was so much cool stuff in there. One of the artists makes sculptures out of used metal. So there was a giant metal horse laying on the floor. It was made out of old car parts. The guy told us we could sit on the horse. So we did. It was awesome. There was also I giant metal piranha on the wall made out of old pans and pot lids.
There were some really neat paintings and they weren't overly expensive, so I was really wishing I had money!!! I love buying a painting in every country I go to for a souvenir! I think I will have to revisit Rotarua after DTS! One of the artists came by and showed us his art and gave us a tour of all of the other art. He was a Christian too and used to be a cartoonist for Warner Bros., he seemed pretty cool. And he loved to chat. We were probably there for an hour or more.
Then we were tired so we trekked back to McDonalds to see if we could trade our uncooked pasta for some coffees. It was a no-go. But we did find some nice guys who let us borrow a cell phone so that we could call our dinner date. And they even gave us $5! It was all they had and it was so nice of them. It was actually a really humbling experience being offered money. We didn't want to take it, but we knew that we needed it so we accepted it.
Our people didn't answer the phone, so Hannah left a super awkward message that went something like this: "Hi.... uuuuhhhh... this is Hannah and Steph and Jacob, we met earlier today... I don't know if you remember us... but uhhhhh... We are at Maccah's.... Uhhhh... (I'm leaving a message guys) So I don't know how you can call us back... ummmm... never mind maybe you could meet us somewhere at like 5:30 or ummm. We'll just call you back! Bye!"
Hahahaa! So awkward!
Then we wandered around a bit more and went to a clothing store to use the phone to call again. When the guy, his name was Wi, picked up the phone he pretended to have an Indian accent and totally tricked Jacob. Hahahha! Jacob looked so scared that he called the wrong number or that they gave us a fake phone number! But it was them! Hahaha! They came and picked us up and took us over to one of the other guys (Shane)'s house for a potluck. We brought uncooked pasta! (They let us keep our uncooked pasta).
There was so much amazing food: chicken, roasted veggies, salad, pizza, etc. And I really didn't want to tell these amazing people who were such a blessing that I was allergic to nearly all of the food. So I decided that God provided this food for me and that I should eat it and that it wouldn't make me sick. I told Hannah and Jacob and they agreed and we prayed about it. So I ate the food. And I ate pizza... with cheese... and pepperoni... and burger... and pinapples.... that in itself includes gluten, dairy, probably eggs and meat. All of these things usually make me ill. But it was so delicious!!!!
And then there was desert! There was ice cream and apple strudel and fruit salad and biscuits (cookies) and coffee and tea. So I ate ice cream. So good. I haven't had ice cream in quite some time! And the best part.... NO DIARRHEA! Awe yeah. God is so good.
After dinner we had another little musical worship session. It turns out that Wi and Marama (the couple that adopted us) and Shane are all on the worship team at their church. So we had a good ol' time singing some Jesus songs.
Then we headed 'home' to Marama and Wi's place. Jacob got to sleep on the most glorious, comfy couch in the whole world. And Hannah and I got the spare bed. It had a heated mattress. But Marama thought that only one half of it still worked. So we rock paper scizzorsed for the heated side. I won. But then when we went to get in we found that both sides were working! YAY GOD! And it was so amazing because houses are not heated in NZ and we were still a bit damp and cold from our day, so the bed was glorious. It was so comfy too, it had a memory foam on it. We turned out the light and laid in the bed for a minute. Then we burst out laughing!!!! GOD IS SO AMAZING!!!! When we got dropped off at the grocery store that morning, we were not expecting that we would have a warm and comfy and safe place to sleep that night, but God is so good! And Wi and Marama were such a blessing for taking us complete strangers under their wing for the weekend! We prayed and thanked Jesus for his amazingness!
In the morning, we got to have a lovely shower and get all clean. Marama let us use her deoderant and any of her soaps in the shower and she gave us extra pads because the two that we were given along with the pasta were not enough! She was so cute! Marama and Wi had to go to church early to practice for worship but they let us sleep in and then came back to get us and bring us to church for the service. When we got there everyone was so welcoming and we got so many hugs and we met the pastor and it was so amazing!
The service was great!!!! We got to worship God and thank him for all that he had provided us with for the weekend! Hannah and I both had a feeling that we should give our $5 in the offering, so we did. We wished we could give more, but that was all we had! After the service there was coffee, and so many of the congregation came and greeted us and chatted with us about our story and the craziness of our 'faith weekend'. AND THEN we found out that some mysterious person from the church had given Wi money to buy us lunch!!! So we got to go to the mall food court for lunch!
After we had eaten, I randomly looked in the chest pocket of my jacket and found $15. I almost died. I was horrified!!!! I had had $15 all along! I gave it away to Wi and Marama and Shane. They didn't want to take it, so we decided on a compromise and bought some delicious biscuits (cookies). Marama loves her biscuits!!!! She is so cute! <3
And THEN!!! To make the day even more amazing, Marama, Wi and shane took us to see the sights of Rotarua! We got to see all of the sulfur pools and mud pits. They are beautiful, even though they are super stinky. And there is even little pools with seats around them that you can go and soak your feet in! So we soaked our feet in the stinky water for a while. It was so nice. Marama and Wi had to go back to the church for a meeting, but Shane stayed with us. And he offered to drive us the 45 minute drive back to the base. It was so nice. He literally drove us to the base and had to turn around and go straight back to the church for worship practice before the evening service. What a blessing!
Wow. When we got back to the base we were just floating on a cloud. And we found that the other teams had also had amazing experiences too! A couple groups ended up in Taurunga and went to the Bethlehem DTS's house for the night, some went to Hamilton where Miranda got to go to a random bridal shower! It is amazing what can happen when you step out in faith and trust God to provide! And now the smell of sulfur will forever remind me of Jesus' faithfulness and provision!
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