I am having such a good time here in Paihia! I am camping at a 5-day long party with 1000 youth. It is SO MUCH FUN! All of the youth are so kind and open to hearing about the Lord! We have already seen a few salvations and it is only day 3! And there have been many, many amazing conversations. The youth of New Zealand are hungry for God and hungry for revival. Religion seems to have a stronghold on these youth. Many of them experienced church growing up, and are closed off to Christianity now because of the religious spirit in the churches here. When youth hear that Christianity is not about religion and rules, but about an actual personal relationship with the Lord they get really excited about it and want to hear more.
Yesterday, there was a rediculously long line of girls outside of the showers at about 6 am. I am pretty sure the majority of partiers went to bed after midnight, and then they all got up early and rushed to the showers. Weird. And the bad part of this situation is that they took ALL of the hot water. And it was gone for the rest of the day. So I had to have a cold shower. Now, normally I wouldn't complain, but I just spent a month having cold bucket showers. Is it so bad that I just want a nice hot shower? It doesn't seem like I will be getting one this week. The water was cold again today when I showered.
Our team is coming down with some colds. I think it is because we didn't get much sleep during our transition from Fiji to NZ, and it is significantly colder in NZ than it was in Fiji. And now we stay up late with the party animals and get up early, while they sleep in or shower in warm water. And then we have cold showers. I felt pretty sick yesterday and slept for the entire afternoon. I feel a bit better today but my throat is worse. My voice is really annoying and I feel really bad for all of the youth that I have been talking to, having to listen to my ugly voice. At least I have an accent and they like listening to that. Having an accent is actually a very effective evangelism tool! They just want to hear you talk, and if you talk about Jesus they'll listen! Woot!
Last night we had some Kareoke. Kareoke always sounds like a good idea, until you let a bunch of drunk people scream into the microphone. They don't even try to sing, just scream. It is quite unpleasant for those of us listening, but they seem to love it and have fun. There was one girl that actually had a rediculously amazing voice. She sang twice, but I wish she would have sang every time.
Once the DJ came, things got a little roudy. More so than on the first night. Jacob and I were on sausages and cafe. So we cooked up some sausages. It was pretty awesome. So many of the youth come through and get sausages, because they are free, and then you get to talk to them and tell them a bit about Jesus while they wait in line. And they love you because you gave them free food! I made so many friends last night. It was awesome.
Then Hannah and I had a really good convo with a guy named Ollie. He was such a sweet kid. Kinda scrawney and a bit nerdy, and he told us that he is an atheist. And he really likes to argue with Christians about their faith. So we welcomed him and talked to him for hours. It was funny because he originally came over to be rude to us, but we just killed his rudeness with kindness and love, and he didn't want to leave! He is such a nice guy deep down, but he has been hurt in the past and we could see a lot of rejection in his heart. All he needs is a bit of love, and he got some from us! I am excited to see if he comes back to hang out again tomorrow!
Then there was Stacey. God gave me such a heart for Stacey. I met him on the first night and I could just feel the pain that he is in. He is so lost, just like all of the youth here, and he is looking for fulfillment in drugs, alcohol and women. It is such a common problem in the world. God made us with a longing for love and for fulfillment, but the only person that can fulfill the desires of our heart is God himself. But so many people today give in to the ways of the world. The world tells us that drinking is cool and fun and that you will have more fun when you are under the influence than when you are not. But alcohol makes you do things that you normally wouldn't do, and in the morning, when you have your senses back, you feel just as bad, if not worse, than before. Yet we keep going back for more, thinking that maybe next time it will be better and you will find what you are looking for. But you never do. It is a never ending cycle. And it is the same with drugs and sex. You are lead to believe that these things will fulfill you and make you feel good, but when you come down from your high, you are still yourself with the same problems as before. It is just a temporary escape. And sex might make you feel good in the moment, but if you are doing it with someone who is not your husband or wife, then you are losing something that is yours. When you become one flesh, your spirits become one also, and if that person is just a one-night stand, then you have given part of yourself to them and you will feel even more empty than before.
Man, I can totally see that these things have a stronghold on Stacey and on a lot of the other youth here, and around the world. Him and I had a long talk about God and about forgiveness and true love. He started off being quite against God. He said that he believed in some greater energy out there, but not that it was God. He has had a rough life, and seen some really sad things happen. And Christians go around preaching about how good God is, but why is there so much bad stuff in the world? Why do bad things happen to good people? Those were his main questions. I told him that I don't know why God lets those things happen, but that I do know that everytime someone sins and falls into temptation, every time they do drugs or steal, God's heart breaks for them. God's only desire is for His lost children to find their way back to him. And whenever one of his children dies without knowing him, God is so upset. Stacey told me about one of his friends that he lost recently. His friend had not been saved, and he had been involved in some minor crimes. He thought that his friend was being punished for what he had done. I started to cry. God gave me his heart for that boy that died. And God was so filled with grief at the loss of one of his children. He was so sad!
Stacey wondered about illnesses like cancer and AIDS and about natural disasters. Again, I told him that I don't know why God lets these things happen, but when they do, God is not happy about it, nor does he use these things as a punishment. God doesn't give children AIDS in Africa to punish them. AIDS is brought on to them through the sinful nature of mankind. But God can heal. If one of his children asks him to heal them, and they believe that he will heal them, then they will be healed. We saw it with Beryl in November. She had breast cancer. She was going to be treated with radiation, but on the day that she was supposed to start treatments, her test results came back negative and she was cured.
And I don't know if natural disasters are controlled by God, or why they happen. But I do know that God protects the faithful during storms and disasters. In Fiji we saw it with our own eyes during the hurricane. There was a tree in the yard, and the wind was blowing the tree directly towards the house, but when the massive branches broke off of the tree, they flew by the house on either side, and not into it. They should have blown right into the house. But there were believers inside the house that were praising him even through the storm. And he blessed us and protected us.
We talked about all of this stuff and more, and something shifted in Stacey. I think that something that I had said got to him, broke through his walls. I told him about God's love and how much God loves him. He denied it. He doesn't think that he can ever be forgiven of his past, that he can ever be set free from it. It breaks my heart because I used to feel that way about things in my past. Now I know that God can break everything off and take all of it away. And I know that God can and will forgive anyone that asks for forgiveness, no matter what the sin is. I felt God's heart for his son, Stacey. It is breaking to see him suffer on his own. Stacey tried to escape me so I ran after him and gave him a big hug from God's heart. He softened, and then I think he teared up so he ran off. Please pray for him. He is one of my missions for this week. To love on him when he doesn't think that he deserves it.
There were 4 people lead to the Lord last night. One of them in particular was notable. He wanted to accept Jesus into his life. So one of the guys told him that he had to bear himself infront of the Lord. He took that as a literal requirement and stripped down to his birthday suit in the middle of our campsite. I was setting up tables for the evening and when I turned around I saw quite the sight. But it was pretty cool to see how serious he was about accepting the Lord into his life!
I am really excited for whatever God has in store for tonight!
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