Hello everybody from up in the mountains in Northern India. For those of you who don't know, Namaste is Hindi for hello and Tashi Delek is Tibetan. We've been up here in McLeod Ganj, which is just up the mountain from Dharamsala, for 12 days now, and it has been awesome so far. Unfortunately we've been battling some sickness in our team, including an unsettled stomach for me, but things are starting to get better for all of us. Please be praying for us all for health as well as safety as we are here.
It has been a fairly exciting time here so far. When we got here, the Dalai Lama was teaching for the first week we were here, so it's been really busy here with a lot of monks (even more than usual) and tons of travelers who are pretty much all spiritual seekers. We have had some amazing conversations with both the travelers and monks, and have been interacting with as many people as possible while we are here. I have been helping out at a free childcare centre for Tibetan refugee children up to about the age of 4 every morning with the 3 girls in our group. It is not really something that I'm terribly comfortable with, but it is an amazing organization that really helps out Tibetan refugees as well as single mothers, so it is definitely worth it. The children are absolutely adorable, and half way through, I haven't had to change a diaper yet!!!! lol. In the afternoons we tend to do some street evangelism, go on prayer walks, meet people in cafes or do conversation classes. I try to do 1 conversation class every afternoon because it is a great way to meet the monks and other Tibetans that have come here and to hear their story. They tend to be very open to talk about religion too, so we've had some amazing conversations about Christianity and its similarities and differences with Buddhism. It is very interesting talking with the monks, and some of them speak very good English.
It is absolutely beautiful here, but can get pretty cold when it is cloudy and when the sun goes down. We are staying with a Tibetan family in some of their guest rooms, and it is awesome. They are a very friendly family and it is absolutely awesome staying with them. When Emily and I were sick in bed the other day, they came up to check on us a few times and to offer us tea, porridge and bananas. It is very secure because they keep the entry to the balcony that gives access to the rooms locked at all times, and we have locks on our rooms. The only downside is that they have to be around when we need to get in our out and we can't stay out too late, but it hasn't been a problem yet and we don't stay out too late because we're all pretty tired after the long days. Our place is up the mountain a little above McLeod Ganj, so I wake up every morning to the sunrise streaming in through my window. It is absolutely beautiful. The mountains and scenery here are breathtaking, and the people are so polite and kind. It was a nice change from Delhi which was so busy and you had people flooding you at all times.
We will be here until the night of Saturday the 18th, when we will get on a 12 hour bus ride to Delhi (the craziest, windiest, bumpiest, longest bus ride ever), then hang around Delhi for the day and leave on a 12-18 hour train ride to Varanasi that night. Needless to say it will be a long as day, and we will be a little tired and probably rather sore after. Varanasi is going to be a whole different experience from McLeod Ganj, but we found out that the Dalai Lama actually is doing a teaching there as well while we're there, so there will most likely be a lot of monks there again for the first part of our trip. I'm not exactly sure what we will be doing there, we will have to see exactly what opportunities will be available when we get there, but we will definitely be helping out with the railroad kids at the K-Centre, which will be awesome. They are kids that need to be loved and played with so badly. There is a huge Christmas party for the kids that we will be helping out at that I'm really looking forward to. I'm really excited to go to Varanasi because we will be there for about 5 weeks, so we will have a lot of time to make an impact and get involved there.
In other news, I have been accepted into the School of Biblical Studies in Taiwan starting in March. There are still some hurdles to get by with getting my visa letter so that I can get my visa, so please be praying for that, but I know that this is where God wants me to be so I am confident that He will make it work out. I will be there for either 9 months or 1 year, depending if I do the Titus project afterward which is a 3 month teaching outreach to teach what we have learned in the 9 months. It will be an intense time and will be very busy, but I am extremely excited about it. We will be reading through the Bible 5 times in the 9 months and will be digging into the context and culture that the different books were written in. I've heard it described as a treasure hunt through the Bible digging deeper to get a greater understanding of what the text means. This is a dream come true for me to be able to spend 9 months doing nothing but studying and getting a fuller understanding of the Bible. I believe this is an important step in the equipping process that God has me in as He prepares me for what He has for me.
Please be praying for me and our team here in McLeod Ganj as well as the other teams that are in Orissa (India), Fiji and Rotuma. We can all use prayer for healing, as well as safe travels and protection. I will try to write another update soon after we get to Varanasi. Thank you for all your love and support.
God bless.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
And we're off!!!
The day has almost come, I'm getting ready to go to sleep, and at 8:30 in the morning, we will be leaving Crystal Springs and heading out on outreach for the next 9 weeks! It's hard to believe that it's only been 12 weeks since we got here. So much has happened in those 12 weeks that it seems like a lifetime ago that we all piled out of the van into our new home, but at the same time, it's still hard to believe that it's already over. It's definitely a bittersweet feeling around here; so exciting to be going out to Fiji for some and India for others, but so difficult to be separated from our brothers and sisters that we have laughed, cried and grown with.
Living in a community like this and going through the lectures and experiences that we've had here has been like nothing I've ever experienced in my life. God did a huge work in my life leading up to me going here, and He continued it and enriched it big time during my time here. He has done an amazing work in my life and in the lives of the other students here, and now it is time for us to go out and put the gifts that He's given us to work and to share with others the life that He has given all of us. I went here having no idea what God has for me in the future, and although I still don't know exactly what the future holds, He's definitely confirmed multiple times that He has plans for me and that they are big plans. There is a reason that He never gave up on me during the years that I was living for myself rather than for Him, and He is definitely preparing me to bear fruit for Him and to reward Him for His faithfulness.
Today I sent my application into the School of Biblical Studies in Taiwan, and I am 100% confident that this is what God wants me to be, and that this will be a huge step to becoming the man He wants me to be and is vital to the equipping process that He is doing in me. It is so exciting to finally know that not only am I doing what God wants, but that He has plans and a purpose for me and my life. Please be praying for me as I go out. I will try to post news and info while I'm in India, but I'm assuming that things will continue to be extremely busy, so I'm not sure how much time I will have to write. Thank you so much for all your prayers and support, they are definitely needed and appreciated.
God bless.
Living in a community like this and going through the lectures and experiences that we've had here has been like nothing I've ever experienced in my life. God did a huge work in my life leading up to me going here, and He continued it and enriched it big time during my time here. He has done an amazing work in my life and in the lives of the other students here, and now it is time for us to go out and put the gifts that He's given us to work and to share with others the life that He has given all of us. I went here having no idea what God has for me in the future, and although I still don't know exactly what the future holds, He's definitely confirmed multiple times that He has plans for me and that they are big plans. There is a reason that He never gave up on me during the years that I was living for myself rather than for Him, and He is definitely preparing me to bear fruit for Him and to reward Him for His faithfulness.
Today I sent my application into the School of Biblical Studies in Taiwan, and I am 100% confident that this is what God wants me to be, and that this will be a huge step to becoming the man He wants me to be and is vital to the equipping process that He is doing in me. It is so exciting to finally know that not only am I doing what God wants, but that He has plans and a purpose for me and my life. Please be praying for me as I go out. I will try to post news and info while I'm in India, but I'm assuming that things will continue to be extremely busy, so I'm not sure how much time I will have to write. Thank you so much for all your prayers and support, they are definitely needed and appreciated.
God bless.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Almost 3/4 done!
Well it's Wednesday night here in New Zealand, so we're just over half way through week 9, which is the 3/4 point of our DTS. I must apologize that I haven't really sent as many updates as I feel I probably should've. As most of you probably know, I'm not the best communicator, and I tend to forget that people back home (hopefully) want to hear about how I'm doing a little more often that I tend to tell them. So I figured I would write a blog post tonight, since it is a free night, and I actually felt that I had something to write.
In a nutshell, things are going absolutely amazing here!! God has been pouring into me like He never has before, and I know it's because I have been pouring into Him like I never have before. I would say that the number 1 thing that I have learned in this DTS is the importance of prayer and fasting, and my prayer life has been stepped into overdrive because of it! My goal has been to spend at least 2 hours each day with God, and so far I meet that goal most days and it has definitely been worth it! We have 6am prayer that I go to most days, gotta admit I sometimes sleep in, and every night during the week I go to the prayer room for an hour before bed. We also have intercession on Tuesday and Thursday morning. I have made it a priority to pray in tongues as much as possible, especially since I have been focusing and meditating on Ephesians 6:10-20 and the call to pray in the Spirit at all times. God has really put it on my heart to ensure that I am putting on His armour and learning how to use it effectively, which is one of the reasons that I feel called to the School of Biblical Studies in Taiwan. I also felt God was calling me to fast regularly, so I have been fasting every Tuesday and Thursday. This got to be a little more difficult because our leaders imposed a school-wide Wednesday morning fast, but it's not too bad and I figure God's worth it. lol. I had never really been one to fast much before I came to this DTS, but as I learned more about the power of fasting, the importance of fasting and how it is a way to honour God, I knew that I had to follow God's leading and make it a regular part of my life. God confirmed to me that He was calling me to fast when I was reading the book of Ezra. I was really struck by chapter 8 verse 21, when Ezra is leading the people the exiles back to Jerusalem, he proclaimed a fast so that they may humble themselves before God. I had never thought of fasting that way, and my pride is something that I believe God has been working on in me, so I knew that He was giving me yet another reason to fast for Him.
During my time here God has really gotten me excited about reading His Word and about learning more about it, which is part of the reason that I want to do the SBS after I'm finished here. I have been reading more and more as the school has gone on, not just the Bible, but also some amazing books too. The two that I enjoyed most were Chasing the Dragon by Jackie Pullinger, and the Heavenly Man by Brother Yun. They are both amazing books and they both confirmed in me the calling that God has put on my life to be His messenger and to go out to the nations. They also have helped confirm that I am to live a simple life and that I may not have a home for a long time. Brother Yun's story has really confirmed that I am willing to preach the Gospel and to speak God's name wherever He calls me to, no matter what that means, even if it means I suffer persecution. His testimony deeply impacted me. He truly is a man of faith that has shown me how important it is to trust God and praise Him no matter what your situation is. He endured more torture, pain and suffering than I thought a man other than Jesus could endure, yet still pressed on and trusted in God and even praised him for the opportunity to minister to his cell mates when he was in prison. I definitely recommend this book to all of you reading this. I believe it was an important book to prepare me for the possibilities of what lies ahead as I am called out to a life of missions in Asia. I hope and pray that I don't have to endure even a fraction of what Brother Yun went through, but I am still willing to go, even if it means I suffer for God. As long as I am following Him, it is worth it. It's like our speaker in Week 6 Cindy Ruakere said about following His call, "it will cost you everything," but you can tell from her story and her testimony, as well as from Brother Yun's testimony, that it's more than worth it. Cindy wrote a song and the main line in it is about living your life so "that the Lamb may receive the reward for His suffering!" It is such a powerful line, and I definitely desire to and am willing to live my life so that He may receive some of His reward.
Well, I think that's about all I have for you all tonight. I hope you enjoyed a little insight about what is going on in my life, as well as in my heart and spirit. I will leave you with a couple closing thoughts from the last chapter of The Heavenly Man that really spoke to me, and were actually the thing that made me think about writing this post so that I could share them with you all. The first is Brother Yun's response to the fact that people will call him stupid because he would return to China if God told him to go, even though he knows that he could face the death penalty. He said "We're not called to live by human reason. All that matters is obedience to God's Word and His leading in our lives. If God says go, we'll go. If He says stay, we'll stay. When we are in His will, we are in the safest place in the world." Also, his wife Deling gives an example of his humility when she tells that he often tells her that "we are absolutely nothing. We have nothing to be proud about. We have no abilities and nothing to offer God. The fact that He chooses to use us is only due to His grace. It has nothing to do with us." And finally, the final paragraph in his book reads: "Jesus is truly worth knowing. He is worthy to receive our whole lives. If you do give Him your whole life, you'll surely never regret it. Will you follow Him?" These are some amazing words from an amazing man, and show just how truly surrendered he is to God and how much he understands that we are nothing except what God has done in us. I love you and miss you all. God bless.
1 John 4:19 - "We love because He first loved us."
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Mid-School Newsletter
Greetings from Crystal Springs!!
It's hard to believe that I'm already through 6 weeks of my DTS here in New Zealand. It feels like it was just the other day that we were all together at my going away barbeque. These past 6 weeks have been such an amazing time for me learning more about God and getting into a deeper and more intimate relationship with Him. I am absolutely loving it here, it is awesome living in a Christian community! The people and the country are amazing. We live in a beautiful area with the Kaimai Mountain Range beside us, and a beautiful waterfall only minutes away. The vegetation here is so vibrant that it's like life in HD. We have an awesome group of staff and students, and we have really come together as a group and a family during our time together.
Teaching
The teaching has been amazing so far, and has really been a blessing to me. The first week we shared our life stories with each other, then had 2 days of teaching on the character of God.
In week 2 we had Dr. Bruce Thompson speak to us on the father heart of God, and it was like nothing I've ever heard on the subject before. He helped me gain a better understanding of how love works, where love deficits come from and how the enemy uses them against us.
The next week we had Sam Hoffman speak to us about prayer and intercession; it was a very powerful week. Sam is on staff at the base working with the Family Ministries DTS, and is a very anointed and radical prayer warrior. He helped me gain new life in my prayer life and really helped me better understand the power and necessity of prayer and fasting, especially when it comes to intercession. On the Wednesday, we had an event called Big Wednesday, which was basically a big worship and prayer service that went from around 7 until 11. It was an amazing time of praying and worshipping together, and you could really feel the Holy Spirit's presence. It was awesome to see the love of God being poured out through all of us. People were crying, praying, laughing and worshipping together all around the room.
In week 4 we had Mark Parker come and speak to us about the Lordship of Christ. He is one of those guys that you either love or hate, and I loved him! He really challenged us to give everything to God, our hopes, dreams, guilt, shame, bitterness, hate, comforts, sins, everything. On the Friday, we had a day where he took us through the “tabernacle” where we first entered into worship and praised God, then we offered sacrifices to God in the form of things we were holding on to, such as comfort, travel, dreams, etc. After that we made our sin offerings and confessed sins, both old and new, to each other, which was a difficult but amazing time for all of us. We spent some more time in prayer and worship, broke bread and had communion followed by a small feast. It was such an awesome time; it really brought us together even more as a family, and was very healing for everybody.
The topic for week 5 was evangelism, and we had multiple speakers this week. The first couple days were mostly a review of things that I had heard before, but the last day Sam spoke again, this time about reaching out to Muslims and Hindus. It was really interesting, especially since we will be encountering a lot of Hindus during outreach in India and because he lived in Northern India for a number of years, so he could speak from experience.
Finally, last week we had 2 speakers, Shaneane Totorewa and her husband Ray, who are the YWAM New Zealand directors, spoke about relationships, and Cindy Ruakere spoke about your highest calling. Shaneane and Ray were both great speakers. Shaneane was the main speaker, and Ray just spoke a little here and there. They were so real with us about their relationship, their past and basically everything, which was really refreshing. They talked about relationships in general the first 2 days, then spoke about romantic relationships on their final day. They definitely gave us all a better understanding of how relationships should look and work.
Cindy was a lot more intense and in your face about following God's calling on your life, no matter what. The tagline of her message would definitely be “it'll cost you everything.” She's been living by faith for over 12 years now, and she says it's definitely worth it. She really pushed us to lay it all down and put our money where our mouth is. God really spoke to me through her, and I once again laid down my life to Him, including my finances. He led me to put my money where my mouth is by emptying my bank account to pay for my outreach. So I'm into week 1 of living by faith, and I am fully confident that God will provide for all my needs. It's kinda a nice feeling actually!
Music and Worship
As you know, I'm a part of the music and worship DTS here, and I know that some of you are wondering what we do for the music and worship part. There are 3 different schools here, M&W, Surfers and Outdoor Pursuits. We all learn together during the week, and then have weekend activities for each of the different programs. As Musos (our nickname) we spend a lot of time out in nature enjoying God's creation, since that is a way that a lot of people are inspired, but we also have teaching times for how to lead worship and write songs effectively, and activities to spur our creative juices, like writing a psalm or song or poem to God. We are also creating a CD at the end of the school, right before we go on outreach, which will be a compilation of songs that each of us have written.
Outreach
We are now less than 6 weeks away from going on outreach. I will be going to Varanasi, India, which is the holiest city in Hinduism. We will be staying about 100m away from the largest temple in the city. Varanasi is one of the oldest cities in the world, and is on the Ganges River, which acts as a place of cleansing for the Hindus sins. Varanasi is a place that Hindus come to die, and their bodies are burned 24/7 in front of the temple we will be staying near. This is one of the darkest spiritual places in the world, and we will be coming to worship and praise God in the streets and to bring His light to this place. Please be praying as we go for Him to protect us and to light our path in the darkness. After 4 weeks in Varanasi, we will be going north to Dharamsala, which is in the Himalayas, and is where the Tibetan government is in exile. We will be ministering to Bhuddist monks and teaching English conversation classes. We leave for outreach at the end of November, and we come back at the end of January, so please keep us in your prayers.
What's Next?
As I've been learning more and more about the Bible and spending more time praying and listening to God, I really feel He is calling me to gain a better understanding of His Word and to learn how to use my sword (His Word) more effectively. So I have decided to apply for the School of Biblical Studies in Taiwan starting in March. The Taiwan base comes highly recommended by my one on one, Josh, who has been with YWAM for 4-5 years now. He knows multiple people on the base including a couple that have done the SBS. He told me that it is considered one of the best bases to take the SBS at. I feel called to this base because they are on the doorstep to China, which is a place that I feel called to, and they offer a School of Frontier Missions that specifically focuses on China that I would like to do in the future. I believe that God has me in a season of learning for 2-3 years to equip and prepare me to be sent out into His mission field long term, specifically in China and Asia reaching out to the lost, the broken and the least. Please be praying for His continuing guidance, provision and protection for me as I follow His call. God bless!
“Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” - Matthew 25:40
It's hard to believe that I'm already through 6 weeks of my DTS here in New Zealand. It feels like it was just the other day that we were all together at my going away barbeque. These past 6 weeks have been such an amazing time for me learning more about God and getting into a deeper and more intimate relationship with Him. I am absolutely loving it here, it is awesome living in a Christian community! The people and the country are amazing. We live in a beautiful area with the Kaimai Mountain Range beside us, and a beautiful waterfall only minutes away. The vegetation here is so vibrant that it's like life in HD. We have an awesome group of staff and students, and we have really come together as a group and a family during our time together.Teaching
The teaching has been amazing so far, and has really been a blessing to me. The first week we shared our life stories with each other, then had 2 days of teaching on the character of God.
In week 2 we had Dr. Bruce Thompson speak to us on the father heart of God, and it was like nothing I've ever heard on the subject before. He helped me gain a better understanding of how love works, where love deficits come from and how the enemy uses them against us.
The next week we had Sam Hoffman speak to us about prayer and intercession; it was a very powerful week. Sam is on staff at the base working with the Family Ministries DTS, and is a very anointed and radical prayer warrior. He helped me gain new life in my prayer life and really helped me better understand the power and necessity of prayer and fasting, especially when it comes to intercession. On the Wednesday, we had an event called Big Wednesday, which was basically a big worship and prayer service that went from around 7 until 11. It was an amazing time of praying and worshipping together, and you could really feel the Holy Spirit's presence. It was awesome to see the love of God being poured out through all of us. People were crying, praying, laughing and worshipping together all around the room.
In week 4 we had Mark Parker come and speak to us about the Lordship of Christ. He is one of those guys that you either love or hate, and I loved him! He really challenged us to give everything to God, our hopes, dreams, guilt, shame, bitterness, hate, comforts, sins, everything. On the Friday, we had a day where he took us through the “tabernacle” where we first entered into worship and praised God, then we offered sacrifices to God in the form of things we were holding on to, such as comfort, travel, dreams, etc. After that we made our sin offerings and confessed sins, both old and new, to each other, which was a difficult but amazing time for all of us. We spent some more time in prayer and worship, broke bread and had communion followed by a small feast. It was such an awesome time; it really brought us together even more as a family, and was very healing for everybody.
The topic for week 5 was evangelism, and we had multiple speakers this week. The first couple days were mostly a review of things that I had heard before, but the last day Sam spoke again, this time about reaching out to Muslims and Hindus. It was really interesting, especially since we will be encountering a lot of Hindus during outreach in India and because he lived in Northern India for a number of years, so he could speak from experience.
Finally, last week we had 2 speakers, Shaneane Totorewa and her husband Ray, who are the YWAM New Zealand directors, spoke about relationships, and Cindy Ruakere spoke about your highest calling. Shaneane and Ray were both great speakers. Shaneane was the main speaker, and Ray just spoke a little here and there. They were so real with us about their relationship, their past and basically everything, which was really refreshing. They talked about relationships in general the first 2 days, then spoke about romantic relationships on their final day. They definitely gave us all a better understanding of how relationships should look and work.
Cindy was a lot more intense and in your face about following God's calling on your life, no matter what. The tagline of her message would definitely be “it'll cost you everything.” She's been living by faith for over 12 years now, and she says it's definitely worth it. She really pushed us to lay it all down and put our money where our mouth is. God really spoke to me through her, and I once again laid down my life to Him, including my finances. He led me to put my money where my mouth is by emptying my bank account to pay for my outreach. So I'm into week 1 of living by faith, and I am fully confident that God will provide for all my needs. It's kinda a nice feeling actually!
Music and Worship
Outreach
We are now less than 6 weeks away from going on outreach. I will be going to Varanasi, India, which is the holiest city in Hinduism. We will be staying about 100m away from the largest temple in the city. Varanasi is one of the oldest cities in the world, and is on the Ganges River, which acts as a place of cleansing for the Hindus sins. Varanasi is a place that Hindus come to die, and their bodies are burned 24/7 in front of the temple we will be staying near. This is one of the darkest spiritual places in the world, and we will be coming to worship and praise God in the streets and to bring His light to this place. Please be praying as we go for Him to protect us and to light our path in the darkness. After 4 weeks in Varanasi, we will be going north to Dharamsala, which is in the Himalayas, and is where the Tibetan government is in exile. We will be ministering to Bhuddist monks and teaching English conversation classes. We leave for outreach at the end of November, and we come back at the end of January, so please keep us in your prayers.
What's Next?
As I've been learning more and more about the Bible and spending more time praying and listening to God, I really feel He is calling me to gain a better understanding of His Word and to learn how to use my sword (His Word) more effectively. So I have decided to apply for the School of Biblical Studies in Taiwan starting in March. The Taiwan base comes highly recommended by my one on one, Josh, who has been with YWAM for 4-5 years now. He knows multiple people on the base including a couple that have done the SBS. He told me that it is considered one of the best bases to take the SBS at. I feel called to this base because they are on the doorstep to China, which is a place that I feel called to, and they offer a School of Frontier Missions that specifically focuses on China that I would like to do in the future. I believe that God has me in a season of learning for 2-3 years to equip and prepare me to be sent out into His mission field long term, specifically in China and Asia reaching out to the lost, the broken and the least. Please be praying for His continuing guidance, provision and protection for me as I follow His call. God bless!
“Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” - Matthew 25:40
Monday, October 11, 2010
Outreach
Happy Thanksgiving to you all back in Canada!!! I hope you are all enjoying the long weekend, and are spending time with family and friends!! Although I do really miss the turkey and pumpkin pie, things are awesome here in New Zealand. We just had our free weekend, so 10 of us split on renting a van for the weekend, and we went surfing in Raglan, which is on the West coast, about 2 hours from Matamata. We were able to pick up the van early, so on Friday I went rock climbing with my roommate Joep and one of the staff, Epelli. We also spent Sunday down in Rotorua checking out the hot springs and being tourists.
This past week was pretty exciting too, because we found out about our outreach destinations. There are 4 teams going out:
1. Operation: Love Lovu is going out to Lovu seaside village in Fiji for 4 weeks to minister to the least and lost through friendship, service, prayer, evangelism and Children's programs. Lovu is one of the poorest parts of Fiji where people can go without food and water for days, and sometimes even weeks. Our base has reached out to this area a few times in the past, so they are looking to deepen the connections that they already have, and make new connections as well. After 4 weeks, they will be returning to New Zealand to go to drunkfest, which is a yearly festival where over 1000 youth from ages 15-30 come to Northern New Zealand to ring in the new year from December 27 - January 2. It is a place that is rampant with sex, drugs and alcohol, so we are sending in a team to worship and evangelize during this time of debauchery and be a light in the darkness. After drunkfest they will spend the final 3-4 weeks of outreach in Kaitia to work with a church and community there.
2. Operation: Rotuma Restoration is going to be spending 4 weeks in and around Lautoka, Fiji to evangelize, pray and church plant. They will also be spending time working with children and running discipleship camps. After 4 weeks they will then spend 2 days on a boat to go to a small island off of Fiji called Rotuma. This island is a place that our base has reached out to before, and is a 9km x 9km small island that is so small and tight knit that you need to be invited in order to be able to come there. They will be spending 2 weeks there facilitating a discipleship camp and fellowship gatherings, after they will return to New Zealand to join the Lovu team in Kaitia.
3. Operation: Faith will be going to Jharsuguda, Orissa, India to work with Faith Outreach International for 4 weeks to work with the orphanages as well as a bible and worship school, and doing mercy ministries working with the poor and needy. After 4 weeks, they will then either be going to Darjeeling or working with Missionaries of Charity, which is Mother Teresa's ministry, where they will be caring for the sick and dying and the least.
4. Operation: Hope will be going to Varanasi, India, which is the holiest city in Hinduism and is a very spiritually dark place. It is located on the Ganges River which acts as a place for Hindus to be cleansed of their sins. It is also a place where Hindus come to die to achieve spiritual freedom, and bodies are constantly being burned in the street and then dumped into the Ganges. The team will be staying approx 100m from the largest temple in Varanasi, which is also where they burn the bodies day and night. The team will be focusing mainly on evangelizing to the locals on the street as well as the many tourists that come to the area due to it's spiritual significance. They will also be working with Harvest Now, the 1000s of railway kids that are orphans that ride the railways as pickpockets, prostitutes and beggars and working with churches and mercy ministries around Varanasi. After 4 weeks, they will then be heading north to Dharamsala, which is where the Tibetan Government is in exile, and will be working with Tibetan Monks there. They will be connecting with them and witnessing to them, as well as teaching English conversation classes to them.
After hearing the options, Operation: Hope was definitely the one that I felt called to, but I also wanted to be open to wherever I could be used and wherever God wanted me to be. So I put down that my preference was to go to Varanasi, but I would go wherever they needed me. Unfortunately a lot of the guys all wanted to go to the same outreaches, so the staff had some hard choices to make. On Thursday, Josh pulled me and Joep aside and told us that he wanted one of us on the Lovu trip and one of us on the Varanasi trip, and it was up to us. The cool thing, was that that morning, Joep and I had been talking and he told me that if it came to one of us going to Varanasi, and the other not, that he would give up his place for me because God is calling me to Asia, even though Varanasi was his first choice. So when Josh asked, he immediately said that he would go to Lovu, and that I could do Varanasi.
So at the beginning of December I will be flying to India to reach out to the lost in Varanasi as well as to the monks in Dharamsala. Please be keeping us in your prayers as we prepare to go out, as well as while we are gone. Like I said earlier, this is a very spiritually dark and heavy place, and we will definitely need God's protection as we go. I'm not sure if I'll be able to update you all much while I am there, but I will definitely keep you up to date as we get closer to going.
I hope you all are doing great, and I'll see ya in the future.
God Bless!
This past week was pretty exciting too, because we found out about our outreach destinations. There are 4 teams going out:
1. Operation: Love Lovu is going out to Lovu seaside village in Fiji for 4 weeks to minister to the least and lost through friendship, service, prayer, evangelism and Children's programs. Lovu is one of the poorest parts of Fiji where people can go without food and water for days, and sometimes even weeks. Our base has reached out to this area a few times in the past, so they are looking to deepen the connections that they already have, and make new connections as well. After 4 weeks, they will be returning to New Zealand to go to drunkfest, which is a yearly festival where over 1000 youth from ages 15-30 come to Northern New Zealand to ring in the new year from December 27 - January 2. It is a place that is rampant with sex, drugs and alcohol, so we are sending in a team to worship and evangelize during this time of debauchery and be a light in the darkness. After drunkfest they will spend the final 3-4 weeks of outreach in Kaitia to work with a church and community there.
2. Operation: Rotuma Restoration is going to be spending 4 weeks in and around Lautoka, Fiji to evangelize, pray and church plant. They will also be spending time working with children and running discipleship camps. After 4 weeks they will then spend 2 days on a boat to go to a small island off of Fiji called Rotuma. This island is a place that our base has reached out to before, and is a 9km x 9km small island that is so small and tight knit that you need to be invited in order to be able to come there. They will be spending 2 weeks there facilitating a discipleship camp and fellowship gatherings, after they will return to New Zealand to join the Lovu team in Kaitia.
3. Operation: Faith will be going to Jharsuguda, Orissa, India to work with Faith Outreach International for 4 weeks to work with the orphanages as well as a bible and worship school, and doing mercy ministries working with the poor and needy. After 4 weeks, they will then either be going to Darjeeling or working with Missionaries of Charity, which is Mother Teresa's ministry, where they will be caring for the sick and dying and the least.
4. Operation: Hope will be going to Varanasi, India, which is the holiest city in Hinduism and is a very spiritually dark place. It is located on the Ganges River which acts as a place for Hindus to be cleansed of their sins. It is also a place where Hindus come to die to achieve spiritual freedom, and bodies are constantly being burned in the street and then dumped into the Ganges. The team will be staying approx 100m from the largest temple in Varanasi, which is also where they burn the bodies day and night. The team will be focusing mainly on evangelizing to the locals on the street as well as the many tourists that come to the area due to it's spiritual significance. They will also be working with Harvest Now, the 1000s of railway kids that are orphans that ride the railways as pickpockets, prostitutes and beggars and working with churches and mercy ministries around Varanasi. After 4 weeks, they will then be heading north to Dharamsala, which is where the Tibetan Government is in exile, and will be working with Tibetan Monks there. They will be connecting with them and witnessing to them, as well as teaching English conversation classes to them.
After hearing the options, Operation: Hope was definitely the one that I felt called to, but I also wanted to be open to wherever I could be used and wherever God wanted me to be. So I put down that my preference was to go to Varanasi, but I would go wherever they needed me. Unfortunately a lot of the guys all wanted to go to the same outreaches, so the staff had some hard choices to make. On Thursday, Josh pulled me and Joep aside and told us that he wanted one of us on the Lovu trip and one of us on the Varanasi trip, and it was up to us. The cool thing, was that that morning, Joep and I had been talking and he told me that if it came to one of us going to Varanasi, and the other not, that he would give up his place for me because God is calling me to Asia, even though Varanasi was his first choice. So when Josh asked, he immediately said that he would go to Lovu, and that I could do Varanasi.
So at the beginning of December I will be flying to India to reach out to the lost in Varanasi as well as to the monks in Dharamsala. Please be keeping us in your prayers as we prepare to go out, as well as while we are gone. Like I said earlier, this is a very spiritually dark and heavy place, and we will definitely need God's protection as we go. I'm not sure if I'll be able to update you all much while I am there, but I will definitely keep you up to date as we get closer to going.
I hope you all are doing great, and I'll see ya in the future.
God Bless!
Monday, September 27, 2010
Teachings so far
Sorry that it has been a little while since my last post. As you can probably imagine, things are pretty crazy over here, and I keep pretty busy between the DTS and enjoying myself in my free time.
We have been getting some great teaching the last couple weeks, Dr. Bruce Thompson came in for week 2 to speak on the Father's Heart, Sam Hoffman, who is actually on staff with the Family Ministries DTS, spoke last week on prayer and intercession and hearing God, and this week we have Mark Parker teaching us about the Lordship of Christ! The teaching has been absolutely amazing! Bruce's teaching on the Father Heart of God was like nothing I've heard on the subject before. He helped me gain a better understanding of how love works and where love deficits come from and how the enemy uses them against us. I know that there was a lot of healing for a lot of people during that week, especially on Friday. The Friday lecture period was used as a time of ministry and prayer, and you could definitely see God at work in the room spreading His love and peace and healing!!!
Last week's teaching on prayer and intercession was awesome! Sam is quite the prayer warrior, and regularly would tell us that He is crazy, but crazy for the Lord!! He has definitely helped me gain new life in my prayer life and has really helped me better understand the power and necessity of prayer, especially when it comes to intercession. Before coming here I had a general idea of what intercession was, but now I find I have a much better understanding of what it is, and why it is so important for all Christians. I'm kinda shocked that I have been a Christian all my life, but have never really heard much talk being done about intercession. I believe more churches in North America should have regular open prayer meetings for intercession for the church and the leadership in the church. I really think we need to wake up to the spiritual warfare that is going on all around us, and recognize the power of corporate targeted prayer. It is great to promote having a healthy prayer life and spending time with God daily, but why are we not promoting people praying for specific things, for targeting specific needs? Is it because we're afraid that if their prayers aren't answered that they will get discouraged and stop?? Last week I heard many stories of people praying and crying out to God for breakthroughs in certain things for certain people and continuing to pray daily for a year or two or however long it takes for the breakthrough to come. We must persevere in our prayers and cry out to God in our prayers, and not just say a quick prayer here or there and hope that there will be breakthroughs.
I have had such a wake up call and have answered that call by setting aside time every day to pray, whether it be in our morning prayer meetings or going to the prayer room for an hour a night. I recommend to all of you to spend more time in hard, heartfelt, meaningful, crying out prayer. I know my excuse used to always be that I don't have the time to set aside 1 hour to pray, but then I would go and play Settlers of Catan for a few hours with friends, or go watch a movie. I always had the time, I just didn't want to sacrifice the fun I was having doing these things. I hope none of this sounds like an attack on the prayer life of all North American believers, because it's not, I know that some, maybe even many of you reading this have a very strong prayer life, but I just felt that this needed to be said to possibly inspire some of you that have been letting it slip, or that have been saying you didn't have the time. Prayer works, but you must be dedicated to it, and corporate prayer is even more powerful.
I'm in the process of typing up my notes from last week for my parents, so if anybody else would like to see my notes, send me an email at stelps1@gmail.com. I can't guarantee that they are the best notes, sometimes the speakers go off on tangents and I just write down whatever is speaking to me, but I think that there is some very valuable insight in them from an amazing teacher who is a prayer warrior in every sense of the word.
As I said earlier, this week we are learning about the Lordship of Christ. I am very excited about this week because I've heard a lot of great things from the staff about this week and about the speaker, Mark Parker. He is a full time speaker for YWAM, and he travels all over the place speaking to DTSs and other schools. He is full of energy and has an amazing enthusiasm for God. I can't wait to see what he has in store for us, and how God is going to be speaking through him! On Friday we are having an all day teaching/prayer/worship/whateverGodhasinstore time with Mark. I don't know what exactly is happening, but I know that from what I've heard, it is a powerful time and a blessed time. So please keep me in your prayers on Friday, which would actually be Thursday for you (for those wondering, I am now 17 hours ahead of you after our time changed this past weekend, so the easy way to think of it is 7 hours before your time, but plus 1 day).
I hope that everybody is doing fantastic back home in Canada! I know that I am absolutely loving it here!! I still can't believe that I get to spend my days praising, worshiping, learning about and spending time with God! It is an amazing life, and I can't wait to see what God has in store for me. I love and miss you all (but not terribly, because I am loving it so much out here!!! Sorry, just want to be honest)!! Please be praying that God will continue to guide me in what He has for me, and especially in what is my next step after this DTS is finished.
God bless!!!
We have been getting some great teaching the last couple weeks, Dr. Bruce Thompson came in for week 2 to speak on the Father's Heart, Sam Hoffman, who is actually on staff with the Family Ministries DTS, spoke last week on prayer and intercession and hearing God, and this week we have Mark Parker teaching us about the Lordship of Christ! The teaching has been absolutely amazing! Bruce's teaching on the Father Heart of God was like nothing I've heard on the subject before. He helped me gain a better understanding of how love works and where love deficits come from and how the enemy uses them against us. I know that there was a lot of healing for a lot of people during that week, especially on Friday. The Friday lecture period was used as a time of ministry and prayer, and you could definitely see God at work in the room spreading His love and peace and healing!!!
Last week's teaching on prayer and intercession was awesome! Sam is quite the prayer warrior, and regularly would tell us that He is crazy, but crazy for the Lord!! He has definitely helped me gain new life in my prayer life and has really helped me better understand the power and necessity of prayer, especially when it comes to intercession. Before coming here I had a general idea of what intercession was, but now I find I have a much better understanding of what it is, and why it is so important for all Christians. I'm kinda shocked that I have been a Christian all my life, but have never really heard much talk being done about intercession. I believe more churches in North America should have regular open prayer meetings for intercession for the church and the leadership in the church. I really think we need to wake up to the spiritual warfare that is going on all around us, and recognize the power of corporate targeted prayer. It is great to promote having a healthy prayer life and spending time with God daily, but why are we not promoting people praying for specific things, for targeting specific needs? Is it because we're afraid that if their prayers aren't answered that they will get discouraged and stop?? Last week I heard many stories of people praying and crying out to God for breakthroughs in certain things for certain people and continuing to pray daily for a year or two or however long it takes for the breakthrough to come. We must persevere in our prayers and cry out to God in our prayers, and not just say a quick prayer here or there and hope that there will be breakthroughs.
I have had such a wake up call and have answered that call by setting aside time every day to pray, whether it be in our morning prayer meetings or going to the prayer room for an hour a night. I recommend to all of you to spend more time in hard, heartfelt, meaningful, crying out prayer. I know my excuse used to always be that I don't have the time to set aside 1 hour to pray, but then I would go and play Settlers of Catan for a few hours with friends, or go watch a movie. I always had the time, I just didn't want to sacrifice the fun I was having doing these things. I hope none of this sounds like an attack on the prayer life of all North American believers, because it's not, I know that some, maybe even many of you reading this have a very strong prayer life, but I just felt that this needed to be said to possibly inspire some of you that have been letting it slip, or that have been saying you didn't have the time. Prayer works, but you must be dedicated to it, and corporate prayer is even more powerful.
I'm in the process of typing up my notes from last week for my parents, so if anybody else would like to see my notes, send me an email at stelps1@gmail.com. I can't guarantee that they are the best notes, sometimes the speakers go off on tangents and I just write down whatever is speaking to me, but I think that there is some very valuable insight in them from an amazing teacher who is a prayer warrior in every sense of the word.
As I said earlier, this week we are learning about the Lordship of Christ. I am very excited about this week because I've heard a lot of great things from the staff about this week and about the speaker, Mark Parker. He is a full time speaker for YWAM, and he travels all over the place speaking to DTSs and other schools. He is full of energy and has an amazing enthusiasm for God. I can't wait to see what he has in store for us, and how God is going to be speaking through him! On Friday we are having an all day teaching/prayer/worship/whateverGodhasinstore time with Mark. I don't know what exactly is happening, but I know that from what I've heard, it is a powerful time and a blessed time. So please keep me in your prayers on Friday, which would actually be Thursday for you (for those wondering, I am now 17 hours ahead of you after our time changed this past weekend, so the easy way to think of it is 7 hours before your time, but plus 1 day).
I hope that everybody is doing fantastic back home in Canada! I know that I am absolutely loving it here!! I still can't believe that I get to spend my days praising, worshiping, learning about and spending time with God! It is an amazing life, and I can't wait to see what God has in store for me. I love and miss you all (but not terribly, because I am loving it so much out here!!! Sorry, just want to be honest)!! Please be praying that God will continue to guide me in what He has for me, and especially in what is my next step after this DTS is finished.
God bless!!!
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Pictures from New Zealand.....Finally
Hello everybody, I decided I should probably finally upload some pictures for you all to see. Unfortunately, the internet is usage based here, so I only have a certain amount of megabytes to use before I have to buy more. So that is why I haven't uploaded pictures yet, but I figured I'd upload a few so that you can see where I am, and be jealous. lol. I would love to say that I miss you all, but that would be lying. I absolutely love it here! The school has been amazing so far, and the environment is absolutely amazing, the pictures do not do it justice!!!! It is also so awesome knowing that I am finally following God's plan for my life, so I think that makes it feel like home even more. I could definitely get used to living in New Zealand! Anyways, it's getting late here, so I have to get to bed. I hope to create a new post soon giving you all an update on how things are going and how the teaching is and everything, but that will have to wait until later. So here are the pictures, I hope you enjoy them! God bless, Matt  |
| Arriving at Crystal Springs, my new home!!! |
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| Wairere Falls, which is about 5-10 minutes from our base - This is where we had our first church service which included hiking up a path to a lookout, then climbing up the river to the base of the waterfall and jumping into FREEZING cold water. It was absolutely amazing!!! Definitely a great welcome to New Zealand!!! |
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| This is pretty much what we see out of our lecture room. Unfortunately it was a cloudy day, so you can't see the mountains too well. It rains pretty much everyday here because it's the spring, but sometimes it'll just be a random 5 minute downpour, then go back to being sunny. |
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| This is the "A Frame" where we have our meals and lectures, and there's a ping pong table and a pool table. We spend a lot of our time here. |
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| This is the yard beside the A Frame, everything is so green here because of all the rain. It's like life in HD. |
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| Gotta have a picture of the Hobbiton Sign in Matamata, still haven't actually taken a tour yet though. |
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| Chillin with my buddy Smeagol |
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| Typical New Zealand scenery, bunch of sheep, with mountains in the background and clouds overhead. |
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| This is Kyle and Levi walking up to the boulder that I jumped off of into the ocean when we went to Mount Maunganui. |
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| Here's me preparing to jump. Once again, it was freezing, Kyle and Tim were supposed to jump with me, but chickened out because it was too cold. It's still only about 17 degrees here, and generally is cloudy, as you can see from the picture. |
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| Just a beauty picture of a farm with the mountains and clouds in the background. I absolutely love it here!!!! |
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Greetings from Matamata!!
Hello from New Zealand!! Sorry it has taken me a few days to update you all, but things have been awesome here and I am keeping pretty busy.
The flight over was amazing, I never had anybody in the seat beside me the entire trip. The jet lag hasn't been too bad at all, I was able to sleep on the plane pretty well because I had an emergency exit row to myself from LA to Sydney, and I made sure I stayed up until the proper time for this time zone every night. The first night we stayed in Auckland at the old base that they used before they moved to Matamata. This base is WAAAAYYYYY better!!! The other base didn't have much to do, but here there's a ping pong and pool table, plus it's on around 12 acres or so, so there's lots of room and there's a soccer field and volleyball courts too.
Like I said, things are keeping pretty busy, we spent the first couple days this week sharing our life stories with eachother, which is where you basically tell everybody about yourself in about 10 minutes. It was pretty awesome, and people were very honest with their past and current situations and struggles. Today we had our first lecture from an older man from New Zealand named Meynard. He is speaking on the character of God, he's very soft spoken, but is pretty interesting and I've enjoyed it so far, even if it's nothing I haven't really heard before.
There's about 25 of us, and we all get along really well. For the most part we're pretty outgoing, and we're all pretty active, so it's been a lot of fun! We play a lot of ping pong and we broke out the cards tonight, (13 player round of spoons!!) and we've even had a few impromptu worship sessions too. We have a room called the GAP that we can hang out in and there's some drums, guitars and a piano that we can use.
I'm staying in a cabin with 2 other guys, Matt, who is from Auckland, and Joēp, who is from the Netherlands. Matt is 25 and Joēp is 22, so they're a little closer to my age than most of the other students. I am the oldest of all the students, and there is only 1 staff member that is older than me, but I'm having no problem getting along with everybody, so the age difference doesn't seem to be a problem at all.
Anyways, I'm hoping to upload some pictures soon to show you all what the base looks like and also a beautiful waterfall that we hiked to the other day. It is so beautiful here, and I can't wait until the weather gets nicer (it's only been about 15-18 degrees everyday and has rained most days as well). I'm absolutely loving it here, and I can't wait to see what God is going to do during this time. I hope all is well over in North America, and I will try to keep you all updated as much as possible.
God bless,
Matt
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
How to support me financially.
This was something that I actually didn't want to post on here because I don't want anybody to feel pressured into supporting me financially. I only want you to if you feel led to, but since I've had a number of people ask me how they can support me financially, I figured this was the best way to let people know.
As I mentioned in my letter, the DTS will cost $7600 NZD (Approx. $5700 CAD), $4200 (~$3100 CAD) of which is due when I arrive in New Zealand in September, the other $3400 (~$2600) is due halfway through the lecture phase, so approximately mid October. Also, if I attend the School of Signs and Wonders at the end of February, 2011, it will cost $3600 NZD (~$2000 CAD) for the lecture phase and another $2000 NZD (~$1500 CAD) plus travel expenses for the outreach.
If you feel led to support me financially, the easiest way would be to give me a cheque before I leave. Cheques should be made payable to YWAM Pursuits with my name in the memo space. If you would like to support me for the outreach phase or the School of Signs and Wonders instead of (or as well as) for the initial lecture phase, the cheques must be postdated because international cheques become out of date after 3 months.
Before I leave, cheques can either be given to me or my parents personally, or sent to me at:
48 Tweed Cres
London, Ontario
N5X1Z4
After I leave, you can send cheques directly to the base in New Zealand, but please keep in mind that it can take about 2-3 weeks for them to get there. The base's address is:
Matt Stelpstra
c/- YWAM pursuits Ministries
“Crystal Springs”
287 Springs Road
RD1
Matamata 3271
New Zealand
Also, as I mentioned in my letter, unfortunately tax receipts are not available for Canadian residents, they are available for US residents though.
I also have to cover all of my personal expenses while I am gone, so if you would like to help with that as well, then you can either give a cheque made out to me or cash either to me or my parents. They will have access to my bank account while I'm gone, so if you would like to give after I'm gone as well, you can give it to them and I will get it. I know that some people may not be as comfortable supporting me this way, but I can assure you that I will use all support faithfully.
Once again, please do not feel obligated to support me financially, I need your prayer support first and foremost, but if you feel led to, then thank you.
If you have any other questions, let me know.
God bless.
Friday, July 30, 2010
My letter to friends and family, AKA, an explanation of what I'm doing.
Hello friends and family,
Some of you I talk to regularly, and some I haven't talked to in a long time, so as some of you may or may not already know, on September 1 I will be leaving and moving away to New Zealand for at least the next 9 months. I say at least the next 9 months, because I honestly don't know what the future holds for me. I've decided to attend a Discipleship Training School (DTS) with Youth with a Mission (YWAM) in Matamata, New Zealand. (For those of you who don't know what a DTS is or what YWAM is, take a look at their website http://www.ywam.org/About-YWAM
The decision to go was not an easy one to make and I did not come upon it lightly. This really is something that started in me years ago. I always wanted to travel and felt that I wasn't supposed to live a normal life, but I fell into the typical North American life of going to school and starting a career, so the dream kinda died. It was actually during my relationship with Sally that the dream was awakened again. Sally has a passion to travel and see the world, and she helped wake up that passion in me and helped me realize that I don't have to live the career life. What a lot of you don't know is that Sally and I were actually planning on getting married in August, and we had planned to go travelling after my job at Woodstock General Hospital ended next year. So Although the main goal was to just travel and see the world, I started feel a call to see what kind of mission opportunities we could do along the way.
After Sally and I broke up, I realized that the call that I felt continued to grow stronger. I started looking at different mission opportunities and ended up looking into YWAM and found out about an outdoor pursuits DTS that was offered by the base in Matamata and was geared toward outdoor enthusiasts, like me. At first I was determined to go right away and leave in September, but after talking with my parents about it and the debt that I was in, they recommended that I wait a year so that I can pay off my debt and save money in order to pay for it all myself, and I agreed wholeheartedly.
A month or so later, in mid-June, I went to a week long Kingdom Passion School with the YWAM Alternatives Network in Toronto. At this school Jim Paul spoke about Prophetic Ministry. At the end of the day he prayed for everyone individually and when he prayed for me he spoke a prophecy over me of being called to the nations and to the mission field and that God would provide the finances, He also said that there will be resistance but God will provide and I will have a group supporting me back home. This blew me away, because it was like he had been listening to a conversation that I had with my buddy Gerry the day before. I prayed a lot about it that night and throughout the next day. I kept feeling that it seemed more like the time was now rather than in a year. I talked to Gerry and he felt the exact same way. Throughout the week, the words “step out” kept running through my head, and I felt that this could be the reason why.
I knew that part of the resistance that Jim spoke about was my parents, so I spoke to them, and they basically reiterated what they had said before about waiting, so I prayed that God would change their hearts. Over the next few days, something amazing happened, He did it. After I spoke to my church on the Sunday after the school, my mom told me that she could support me in going in September. The next few days were filled with confirmations from God. I wanted to be sure that this was Him calling me and not my own desires because I knew that this was not a “one and done” sort of thing. I knew that this was a long term calling so I wanted to know that I had His anointing in going and that I was going in His timing.
The last month has been a bit of a whirlwind. I was accepted to the school, so I told my job that I am leaving at the end of August and have been starting to plan. My parents have blessed me more than I could imagine by paying for my plane ticket and by forgiving some of my debt. I am now into full blown “save mode” to get the money to start this new part of my life. The DTS is going to cost $7600 NZD (Approx. $5700 CAD) and the School of Signs and Wonders will cost $3600 NZD (~$2000 CAD) for the lecture phase and another $2000 NZD (~$1500 CAD) plus travel expenses for the outreach. The tuition covers room and board, but all other personal expenses are my responsibility. I know that I do not have enough money to cover all my costs yet, but I am trusting God that He will provide for me.
As I go to follow God's call I will need your prayers and support more than anything else, so please, do not feel obligated to support me financially. I did not send this email as a solicitation for your money but as a way to tell the people that I know and love where God is leading me to and to ask you to please pledge to support me prayerfully, but if you do feel led to support me financially in this, I will gratefully accept your help. Also, I will be having a barbeque on August 28, 2010 starting at 5:00 as a going away party as well as a fundraiser. I'm not sure exactly what it will entail, but please come and see me before I leave. Please RSVP to my mom Alice at jastelpstra@hotmail.com so that we can have an idea of the numbers for the bbq.
I am starting a blog to chronicle my travels and what God is doing in my life at http://stelps.blogspot.com/. Right now it is very empty, but I will be trying to update it as much as possible with pictures and stories of what I'm doing and where I am.
Please feel free to forward this to anybody I have missed, or anybody that you feel led to send it to.
God bless,
Matt Stelpstra
Why start a blog?
I always said that I would never start a blog because they seem to be all about useless stuff that only matter to the poster. While that may be the case, maybe it was just that I never had anything that I thought was useful to blog about until now, because here we are.
So anyways, to answer my own question, a few months ago, God put it on my heart to start a blog but never got around to it because I still didn't really have anything that I felt was too important to share, just my own random musings about God and life and religion and such. Well, now that I'm stepping out to follow God, wherever or whatever that may lead me to, I knew that my blog was supposed to be to chronicle my travels and what God is doing in my life.....and of course I'll probably put some of my random musings in here and there too, but at least my blog has a purpose now.
I'm gonna try to keep this updated as much as possible over the next few months/years/decades/however long God sends me out for so that you all (assuming people actually read this stuff) can know where I am and what I'm doing, and more importantly, what to be praying about. This is an extremely exciting journey that I'm setting out on. I have no idea where it will take me or how long it will take me for, but I do know that He is guiding me and that He is going to take care of me no matter what.
For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, my next post will be the email that I sent to friends and family explaining every thing. If you ever have any questions, or if you just want to say hello or chat, please send me an email at stelps1@gmail.com or look me up on facebook at www.facebook.com/stelps.
So please, enjoy, and keep me in your prayers.
God bless.
So anyways, to answer my own question, a few months ago, God put it on my heart to start a blog but never got around to it because I still didn't really have anything that I felt was too important to share, just my own random musings about God and life and religion and such. Well, now that I'm stepping out to follow God, wherever or whatever that may lead me to, I knew that my blog was supposed to be to chronicle my travels and what God is doing in my life.....and of course I'll probably put some of my random musings in here and there too, but at least my blog has a purpose now.
I'm gonna try to keep this updated as much as possible over the next few months/years/decades/however long God sends me out for so that you all (assuming people actually read this stuff) can know where I am and what I'm doing, and more importantly, what to be praying about. This is an extremely exciting journey that I'm setting out on. I have no idea where it will take me or how long it will take me for, but I do know that He is guiding me and that He is going to take care of me no matter what.
For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, my next post will be the email that I sent to friends and family explaining every thing. If you ever have any questions, or if you just want to say hello or chat, please send me an email at stelps1@gmail.com or look me up on facebook at www.facebook.com/stelps.
So please, enjoy, and keep me in your prayers.
God bless.
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