Off to Bali!

Our 12 week lecture phase has just concluded and we are now heading into our 7 week outreach portion of the school. We ended the school with a final teaching of evangelism. It was such a great teaching that got the class all fired up to speak about the love and wholeness of Jesus Christ.

We will be departing the 14th of October and spending nearly 4 weeks in Bali and have our accommodation arranged with the YWAM base in downtown Bali. We will be fully emerging ourselves into the busy 3.2 million people population with a mindset of straight evangelism. We are planning to be visiting hospitals, prisons, and rural areas to really immerse ourselves into the culture for the short time we are there for. Indonesia is considered the largest Islamic nation of the world with the outer main lands of Indonesia being populated with over 220 million Islamic believers, although Bali is nearly 95% Hindu in there belief systems.

After our 4 week outreach on Bali we will then fly into Christchurch In the south island of New Zealand to be a part of the rising up of 30,000 New Zealand youth into the idea of helping the world’s justice and poverty issues. Were all packed up and ready to go so please be praying for us as we head off into such an amazing and intense place such as Bali, Indonesia.

On the 4th of October I had the opportunity to have a live video call with North Hills Church to be able to share with all of my friends and family what God has been doing in my life while on the mission field and they so kindly took an offering for me to help me with my finances in getting a plane ticket home and paying my staff fees. The church raised over $3000 for me which covered both airfare and staff fees. It was a complete answered prayer for I was trusting God for a lot at that time and I knew heading into outreach it would be very difficult for me to be raising support while in the 3rd world. I would like to give a huge thanks to all my friends and family over at North Hills Church for there amazing love and generosity towards my financial situation and simply just bringing me the well needed encouragement in perfect timing. It is so amazing to have the support of my family and friends while being nearly 3000 miles away from home. I feel so loved. Thank you once again for being vessels that the lord can use to bless others.

Also I would like to thank everyone for there amazing prayers and support towards me over these past 16 months. Without your guys’ prayers I wouldn’t be here doing what I am doing in the mission field today.
Continue to be praying for Gods protection over both teams going out on outreach. The other half of the team will be leaving for Papua New Guinea on the 15th and fly back into NZ one day after us. They will have quite the journey as they are heading into an extremely rural location such as PNG.

I will my best to keep you all posted throughout the outreach but please feel free to email me anytime you would like. Thank you for reading my latest Blog and Bless you.

School Update

Hey everyone we are in week 8 of the DTS lecture Phase. It has been so powerful as we have just recently finished teaching in the Holy Spirit and Relationships. The students did awesome with tons of response and a complete movement of God. For myself I have been so blessed with more and more opportunities to connect with the guys in my small group, each one of my small group guys' love doing different things so its been great to find out the things that they love and going out and doing it with them. One of my guys loves the water so we have been able to surf quite a bit lately, another few of my guys love to just go out and play sports or walk and its been great finding out what it is that gives these guys excitement and finding out the keys to there hearts.

This past weekend as a DTS we went to see the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team. It was so awesome for all the students to really be able to get together and travel outside of the classroom and experience some awesome Kiwi culture. Although they lost to the South African Springboks it was still good fun.

In other awesome news Outreach locations and team leaders been decided. After days and even months for some, God showed us where we should take the outreach teams. One team of 8 including 2 staff will be heading to Papua New Guinea and I will be leading a team of 12 with 3 other staff to Bali, Indonesia. The outreach will last a little over 3 weeks and it will begin on October 15 and we will be flying back into NZ on the November 10. We are still unsure of where we will staying in Bali or what we will exactly be doing but as a team we have been praying a lot for direction and God has really been speaking to us. So far the team feels very led to do prison ministry, hospital ministry, and most of all orphanage visits and children ministry. Most of all we have a heart to do straight up evangelism, this is radical group of motivated individuals and there hungry to see some lost and alone people find the Father God. Also there is another surfer on the team and we have been praying a lot into possibly doing some surf ministry so the possibilities are endless with God.

Once we return to NZ we will be joining up with the Ship In Christchurch and begin a 4 week ship tour around some of New Zealand's major ports including, Wellington, New Plymouth, and Bluff. Our main purpose is to rise up 30,000 young people into missions and share with them all of our stories that God has given us and show to the Kiwi Youth that they CAN serve God anywhere and that God is all about relationship with them. Once the NZ tour is over we will sail back into Tauranga harbor and then Graduate on December 10.

The next question is.. What are you doing after the school ends? Well as of now I have booked a ticket to Perth West Australia where I will spending 8-10 days with my good Ozzie mate Cheyne and his family. I was asking God "How do you want me to wrap up this amazing spiritual journey in NZ before I go home?". As soon as I began to pray I got the invite to Perth and new right away that it was God calling me. So after a solid word of the Lord and Spending every last penny I had I bought a ticket to Australia. I am so excited for the trip and feel very blessed that I have this amazing opportunity.

Prayer Requests

As a school we must still be focused on what the teaching is and it can be very easy to become distracted especially when outreach is on your mind, so please be praying for focus within the school and great opportunities for both outreach teams to become connected.

Also please be praying for guidance of both outreach teams and that we can be in complete step with God and hsi calling for us in Bali and the PNG team.

I always love spending time with my guys' so prayer for more amazing opportunitites for me to invest into them would be so amazing and such a blessing.

Lastly, I am so thankful for Gods financial provision over me being able to purchase both a ticket to Bali and Perth. It has been so great being able to have such amazing stories of faith for what God has done for me and the unique ways he has provided for me. I still do not have a tcket home though and still owe a staff fees so I am really trusting God for a lot right now. At the end of the year I will owe about $2500 in staff fees and about $1300 for a flight home. SO please be praying for me to get a ticket home before the ticket prices sky rocket for the holidays.

Thanks to all who have been in prayer for me and have blessed me with prayers and encouragement and also a huge thanks to all who have supported me finnancially. I feel so blessed to have such amazing opportunites to serve God in such amazing placs with such God hungry young people.

Love you all.

What amazing past few weeks we have had!

The DTS has finished there second week of lecture phase and what an amazing opportunity its been to poor out there hearts and really give there all to God. There are 14 students this school representing 5 different nations. The diversity is incredible. I am one of 6 staff including our school director. He has asked me to take on the role of being 2ic which is a real honorable and responsible role that I feel privileged to take on. Having knowledge and

experience comes responsibility and I am so happy that this i

s the way God is using me.

This past weekend after an awesome 5 day teaching of intercessory prayer and hearing Gods voice I had the opportunity to take the DTS guys out to this famous surf break called Raglan. So all 7 of us guys piled ourselves, 5 surfboards and wetsuits, sleeping bags, and food into the school van and we headed off to what we like to call a “Mans Trip”. We drove about 2 hours to get there and jumped straight into the 5ft+ surf and got an amazing sunset session. That night we made it over to friends house and we through together a giant pasta full of meat, cheese and garlic, all the things men love. We woke up the next morning feeling sore from the living room floor we slept on but excited to get back in the water. We surfed for a few hours then came back and made an absolute gigantic breakfast for all 10 of u

s including our friends. We made 2 dozen eggs, a pound of bacon and sausage, hash browns, toast, it was “the works”. We made a mess but it was such a success. All of us guys just being men together. After our breakfast we went out for our final surf of the weekend and it was sunny and warm for a winter day. We all went out and had the times of our lives then packed up and drove back tired as you could be but the whole time smiling. What a privilege for me, to have the opportunity to take out all the guys in the group and allow them just be men together. To admire Gods beauty, make a mess while making food and fun, to surf and laugh together. Men NEED experiences like this. I am so thankful and so honored to have the opportunity to encourage and push the importance of men seeking the Father for adventure and having men to be adventurous with. Thank You God for such an incredible weekend!!

Prayer requests,

Lately I have been thinking a lot about home, being with my family and friends. Its tough because It can distract me at times and make me feel homesick a bit. I would love your prayers for me In this area of living in the now and staying focused on the task God has given me at this season of my life.

I am currently trusting God for his provision over me financially in both airfare and staff fees. I had gotten and invitation to go spend 10 days with my school director and his family to his parents’ home in west Australia in December right after the school. I have been looking at flight prices and got an estimate for about US$1400 to go to Australia then back home to Los Angeles. I am really praying a lot into this area for it can be a stressful issue but God is an amazing and trusting God and I strongly believe in his calling for me being here.

Thank you so much for reading my latest blog and look forward to a new post being put out in a few weeks time. Blessings and love to you all.

While In New Zealand...

Now that the DTS has just finished I am currently on a 4 week gap before the next school training starts which begins july 15th. I am living In Tauranga at the moment and will flying over to the great barrier island on friday. I will be there working and living for the next few weeks to get myself prepared for the next school. God is an amazing God, a week ago I had no plans for what I would be doing these next few weeks and in just a few days God opened lots of doors for me. If you could please just be praying for wisdom and preparation of my heart for the next school. Currently the next school I I'll be the only male on staff besides the school director and I will also be the only senior staff. There are currently 15 students enroled and 4 female staff,two male staff including me and our school director so I am a bit nervous but overall very excited for the new challenges and fun times ahead. Your prayers will be greatly appreciated. Thank you all and bless you all so much.

Cheers!!

Its nice to finally be back in New Zealand after our 2 month outreach to people groups throughout the Fijian islands. What an amazing outreach it was. We sure faced our challenges but what was so amazing was seeing God's grace and guidance of our team while working there.

The first 3 weeks of outreach were spent doing medical outreach to the4 different villages in Theisland of Vanua Levu. We were operating in the dental clinic, primary health care, optical, and we also had a construction team. We were all split up into one of the teams and rotated throughout the outreach. I had the opportunity to work with the construction team for the first week. We mostly built sets of steps and hand railing for those who needed it. We had little to work with so we couldn't really do any large projects but we used what we had and it really was so cool just to see how grateful these people were for just a simple set of stairs leading into there homes. While the construction team was doing all we could the optical and primary healthcare teams would be working in a nearby town hall each having there own stations separating them and the dental team would be working in the dental clinic aboard the ship. For the second part of the medical outreach I was stationed in the dental clinic. I moved patients throughout the clinic, handling the dental communications from the ship, and also assisted in dental education and post operation prescriptions. A few days I was blessed with the opportunity to assist the dentist. It was absolutely incredible; in one day of assisting we saw over 20 patients and did 4 root canals. I got to do over 10 extractions myself. I learned so much during those weeks working the clinic.

Over the 3 week outreach we would pray over and ask for God's provision in treating these people. We all had the opportunity to be trained on the field with those who were specialized in their field. Overall we had 1 optometrist, 1 GP, 6 nurses and 2 dentists. Including the captain and the ships crew there we 48 people living aboard the ship with a maximum living capacity of 50. We would constantly be praying for patients before and after treatment, here are some of the medical stats from our medical outreach:

1988 patients overall

Primary Health Care

760 patients

410 doctor consultations

314 nurse consultations

189 physical therapy and group education

Optical Care

653 patients

152 pairs prescription glasses distributed

344 pairs reading glasses distributed

Dental Care

575 patients

984 teeth removed (extractions)

249 teeth restored (fillings)

95 cleanings

DTS Outreach Completed!

Rabi Island Outreach

Hayley and I had the responsibility of leading a team to the small remote island of Rabi. We made our arrangements during the medical outreach and it was amazing seeing God lay out plans before us. So not before long we were blessed with a church to stay with. When we first arrived we were escorted by the chief of a nearby village called Koroko. He took us to a small village of Tabiang where we met all of the church elders and family we would be living with for the next 3 weeks. It was quite funny because on the first night we all introduced ourselves in the dark due to the generators that power the lights not being on just yet. Little did we know that these people would make such a large impact on us. While being in Rabi we felt a strong calling in reaching out to the special groups of people there. Such as children’s and teenage ministry, and men and women's ministry. It was really great to have nights or days simply dedicated to one focus. For example we would have a day focused on just high school ministry so we would have program scheduled at the high school then after that we would go play volleyball with them and then close out the night with a bible study with them. We would have days focused on medical we gave out free tooth brushes, and of course days focused prayer for the village. Hayley and I felt a strong calling to do something radical and different with this team we weren't sure what the calling was so we prayed and prayed and He led us to student leadership. Allowing the students to be more and more involved in facilitating the day to day programs. So we did, we designated one student a day to plan the day and organize the team. It was amazing seeing the students handle the we deal with daily and seeking us leaders and God on what to do.

The people of Rabi are very friendly; we had the opportunity to do house visits and really get to know the people of the village. We would pray for them and encourage them in their walk with the Lord. We find that most of the believers there are just believers because they will be looked down upon if they are not involved in church. So we stepped out and reached out to them. We also went and prayed for widows and the injured and sick. We saw a lady be healed after seeing her swollen leg that had been hurting her so bad she couldn't walk but after praying for her the next day we saw her back teaching in the classroom and walking around like normal. It was just incredible.

Like most Pacific Islands the Rabi people live off what they have. They fish and eat what they grow. Food such as taro, cassava, and of course coconuts. They also really love their rice and flour which they use to make all of their bread which is cheap and easy for them. We also ate a lot of fish- fish and rice nearly 3 meals a day. It sounds like it may be bad but truthfully I miss the food quite a bit. I would have to say the most special thing was the relationships we gained. We met some amazing people. People that would just sit with us and sing songs all throughout the night. They would always be laughing and always be happy. We got very close with a man named Aretane, he was such a man of God and had been praying for a team like ours to come to his village and encourage him to start up some type of youth ministry but is finding it very hard due to the poor relationships between churches. It was so amazing seeing him come house to house with us and seeing him pray for the of his village. They may have felt that we were the encouragement to them but really they were the encouragement to us with there amazing openhearted spirits and incredible hospitality.

Bon Voyage!!

The sailing begins today as we head off to our first location of Orama located in the great barrier islands of the northeast coast of New Zealand. We will be there working with a camp and finishing week 7 of the lecture phase. Great Barrier is an absolute beautiful place. I had the opportunity to sail there last September and it was such a experience. The sail is short just 12 hours and were praying for smooth seas.
After our week in Orama, we will head back to the main land in Auckland to dry dock the ship and do any last minute preparations for the ship before we sail. After a week of of inspections and week 8 of lecture is finished we will sail 4 days out to Lautoka, Fiji. We are planned to spend the last 3 weeks of the lecture phase in the YWAM base in Fiji then we will begin our first half of outreach by working with the medical team on the ship. We will be doing eye care, dental care, and also primary health care. Once we are done with our first outreach on the sip with the medical team, the teams will be split up and sent off to our 2nd outreach locations. The first of 8 which is led by Dahvede and Caroline will be flying back to New Zealand to do a backpacking type outeach traveling through the parts of the North and South Islands. The second team which is led by Hayley and myself will take our team of 8 will be heading out to Rabi Island. A small Fijian Island in the northwest islands of Fiji. We are still not set on what we will be doing there but we feel called to simplay let God lead us. It is hard to make contacts with the people of this islands seeing how it is ran by generators only running at certain hours of the day. Both teams will be staying in there location for 3 weeks and then we will meet back up in New Zealand for debrief and graduation. I will be updating my blog the progress of the last weeks of lecture and also outreach when it begins. Hopefully I will be able to find an internet source to update you at least once a month.
Please be praying for our safety as we sail, for safe seas and complete guidence in the open south pacific seas.
Also please be praying for Gods Revealance of his plans for us. We are blessed to have the opportunity to reach out to these people and we ask that we can can be as much as a blessing for them as they are for us.

Thank you so much for reading my latest blog and I will updating you as soon as possible. Bless you all. Thanks for all the love.