Some Highlights from the Ship Tour

In our travels I was blessed enough to revisit some of the people I had met on a previous outreach of New Zealand last May. It was a real blessing to continue to build relationship with people in Tawa, Napier, and other parts of the country.

Napier

In May I had hitched into Napier and through means only God could do, was connected to Pastor Bruce. For the tour I got in touch with Bruce and he was happy to have us share with their youth group. When we finally presented he was so impressed with the presentation that he invited us to take part in their Sunday service as well - which he had already planned to speak on missions at. It was great.

Hastings

That afternoon we headed to Napier's sister city, Hastings. I had contacted a Christian school there only days prior and they had agreed to have us come present. We were able to share with their older high school students Monday in two presentations. Between presentations the principal and asst. principal were asking loads of questions regarding how to set up a mission program in their school, etc. This was a huge blessing for our friends, leaders and co-tour partners, Ken and April, who had previous experience doing just that! They sat and chatted for 45 MINUTES about research, program ideas and so much more.

New Plymouth

We shared in a youth group at a Baptist church in the coastal city of New Plymouth. After our presentation we sat and talked with the youth in breakout groups. I ended up having a secondary conversation with a handful of soon to be graduated guys. They were so on fire for Christ and missions it was incredibly, they practically put me to shame. I still have yet to email one of them back, I promise I'm getting there Joshua, about way to get involved in God's ultimate plan.

Oak Ridge

When given the opportunity to share with the community of and surrounding YWAM Oak Ridge, it resulted in a very special experience. We shared heavily on the call to Turkey - ANZACs (New Zealanders and Australians) have a special acceptance in Turkey due to WWI and the battle of Gallipolli that other nations lack. Kiwis have an awesome opportunity to go in and share the Gospel and we called the community to support those who were going and seek God's call for themselves. It ended with a powerful prayer time for Turkey and all those who were Kiwis, or called NZ home came forward and led the group in singing the national anthem, God Defend New Zealand, which is, in itself, a prayer. Hear/watch it on YouTube.

All in all we had an incredible time. We spoke and shared with thousands. Sometimes planned, sometimes on the fly, sometimes creating events from nothing. It was truly a blessed experience.