Were Back and all Graduated!!

Wow! What an adventure these past two months have been. We have done so much in this time it has been amazing. Our first adventure was our trip to Samoa. Samoa was an absolute amazing place with beautiful beaches, wonderful weather, and some of the kindest people you will ever come across. As a team of 5 students and 2 staff we headed off to our first outreach still slightly unaware of what we would exactly be doing there. The entire team had a strong passion for really seeking God and letting him lead the team rather than us trying to lead and create our own plans. Well just that happened; our plans for what we thought we would be doing completely changed. Typically on a DTS outreach a team will be sent out to there given location and given a place to stay at a local Youth With A Mission base. But for us our housing situation was a little more unique. We had the opportunity to live with different family’s each week in different villages all throughout Samoa. Our first location was in a little village near the capital city of Apia name Vialoa. We were able to do so much while being there, everything from running nightly church programs to visiting hospitals and even prayer walks all through out the city doing random acts of kindness like buying bread and water for the homeless on the streets. The family we had stayed with also had many family members living in each home. Like most Samoan homes an entire family of up to maybe 15 consisting of moms, dads, grandpas, cousins, brothers in law, and all other members of the family will all be staying in these households. They were all so hospitable it was amazing, giving us all food and giving us there beds to sleep on. As a team we really felt that God had a distinct job for us and that was to really learn and respect the samoan culture. In doing that we would all do our absolute best to step out into the action. We would help cook and gather food for them which envolved everything from carrying coconuts to even killing pigs and preparing them for a traditional samoan feast. In the second week there was a time where we as a team had done something that no other white man had done in that village and that was to hike nearly two hours in rain and mud all the way up to this mans plantation where he had been living and growing all of his crops. He was so surprised to see us and in complete confusion to why the heck we would head up there just to see his plantation and I think after hiking that long and getting bitten to death by mosquitos we were all wondering what the heck we were doing up there. But after speaking to him for a little while we had found out that he had actually been struggling so much with alcoholism and that it was costing him his family. He had little faith at the time and was in desperate need of prayer and support. We all knew after hearing his story exactly why we were there. So we did just that, we prayed for him and gave him words of encourgement and left his plantation feeling completely blessed and filled with the holy spirit. It was trully a divine appointment. Heres a pic of the man named Somate. Some other amazing things we were able to do was visit hospitals, prisons, and even primary schools. On our 3rd week we had the opportunity to visit the bigger but less populated island of Savaii. Where we experienced intense rain and thunder at night and intense sun during the day. We had a very busy schedule though consisting off doing church programs at night and during the day doing things such as working at the plantation or helping serve the villages with cleaning up or just spending time getting to know the people of the villages. In our 4th and final week we had gone back to Vialoa to do alot of work with the Samoa YWAM base. Our biggest job was to just help cook and cooking is just what we did. All fresh and cooked under the fire. It was amazing, this is also where we had met the president of YWAM named John Dawson. He had completely surprised us and was so excited to chat with us and pray for us which was amzing. When it was time to go we spent our last day visiting a local resort named Aggi Greys. It was beautiful with a nice pool and and great food but the strangest thing and saddest thing was thinking that nearly all the people that come to visit Samoa go and just see beach resorts just like that. When really Samoas true beauty is deep down in the hearts of the people and the amazing storys of struggle and success all due to there amzing relationships that they have with God and eachother. What an Amazing and unforgettable journey that was.

Outreach #2 New Zealand South Island Public Relations Tour

Our main focus on the second part of outreach was to drive nearly 700 miles south all the way down from our base in Tauranga to a little town of Edendale, just about 30 min from Invercargil. We visited churches and shared our amazing island experiences to people in Wellington, Christchurch, Queenstown, Wanaka, Gore, and many other little towns throughout the southland area and finnally based in Edendale at a camp named Edenview. One goal we really had was to connect with people and spreading the news of what God is doing in our lifes and can do in theres. There is a large struggle going on in the churches of southland right now with nearly 30 churches within 40 minutes of each other all shutting down within the last few years. We were about as busy as a group can get with days where we all split up into 4 groups covering nearly 7 different churches doing programs in all of them. Some amazing things that we had the chance to do visit a prison and put on a complete hour program filled with worship and our own personal testimonys followed by a short encouraging message. The prisoners there were absolutely amazing, speaking to them after they were asking for prayer and for us to share more our personal storys with them. They had shared how inspiring it was for the 7 of us students representing 6 different nations come together as a team and be able to be so close. It left us all so inspired. We also had the chance to visit primary schools and put on programs for them which for alot of us going to a public school to speak and sing about Jesus seems like a strange thing but do to how small these farmland based schools were there wasnt much of an issue. The schools I would say was one of the best experience for me. Always the kids were so interactive and always laughing and dancing when doing skits and songs. New Zealand has some absolute gorgeous places that I would say is down south where we had the opportunity to go to. Filled with tall beautiful mountainsides and neverending strethches of green farmland the south Island offers absolute breathtaking scenery. Some of us students had the opportunity to view a place called Millford Sounds where they had filmed a majority of Lord of the rings films. They have these little sand flies there that just love to bite you up and they say that in old maori history God put these flys there to bite you and remind you that your not in heaven. And by looking at some of the mountains and lakes I can see why they believed that. Overall after driving nearly 75 total hours and about 1500 miles we were exhausted, run down, but intirely filled with love and rewarding feeling of a job well done. Our hearts were inspired and we created memories that will last a life time.

Once we all returned everyone began packing up there bags and preparing to head home. With our graduation following just after outreach our class of 15 students representing 8 different nations were all graduated and begining to thank God more and more for the amazing relationships that we had all established with eachother. It was heartbreaking to say bye and there was many tears shed but with plenty more laughing going with it. I will never forget this discipleship training school where I established an amazing relationship with God, met amazingly unique people from all over the world, and had the chance to be in parts of the world that I never imagined. What an amzing way to start the rest of my life. Heres a pic of us guys doing a traditional Maori Haka at graduation. A haka is just a loud fast moving intimidation tool that they used in tribal war times and still use them in rugby today. Check out a New Zealand Haka on You Tube you will be impressed.

My New Challenge!

Coming back from all of these amazing journeys God has challenged me with a new opportunity to step out in my faith and test my own personal experiences by staying on the boat in New Zealand and becoming a staff member for the next 2 Discipleship Training Schools. I was asked to stay several months ago and had been prayerfully seeking God in how I can not only Grow in my faith but grow in leadership skills, relational skills, and overall maturity and i felt that this was exactly that. I am so excited to stay to see whats in store for me and how I can be used in ways ive never been used before. Currently there are 3 other staff members that I will working with and untill the next school starts in January 26th we have been using this time to prepare ourselves and rebuild oursleves for the next school. The School still intales a 3 month lecture phase followed by a 2 month outreach. If you would like to see what we will be doing in the next school please visit the Marine Reach Website at http://www.marinereach.com/. and check out the Pacific Challenge DTS.

Prayer Requests!

I have been using alot of my time just praying thanks of all the amazing experiences Ive had and all the awesome support I have been getting from family and friends. If you could please just pray thanks to God for keeping us safe as a team and leading us to such awesome people and places with tons of awesome experiences.

Prayer for guidance and wisdom for my commitment to becoming a staff member. It will be very challenging and educational for me and I am very excited to take on the role.

Pray for my parents and all of my family for giving me the blessings to step out in my faith and stay another year here in New Zealand. Ask God to give them blessing and fill them with love and comfort that I will be safe here.

Also if you can be praying for provision in me finnancially, that God can provide for me and I can be taken care of both finnacially and Spiritually.

Thank you so much for checking out my latest blog entery and I will continually update it with any thing new that is happening. With tons of blessings and love thank you.

Have An absolute Merry Christmas and Happy New year! Feel free to email me anytime you have any questions or want to chat about anything!

Off To Samoa!!

Hey Everybody! We are all packed up and heading out to Samoa where will begin our first phase of outreach. We will be leaving on Friday the 17th of October and will be returning on the 17th of November. We are not completely sure of what we will be doing on our outreach but we do know that we will be having oppotunities to do such things as childrens ministry, prison ministry, painting and construction, primary healthcare, and most importantly bringing the love of Jesus to the people of Samoa. Samoa is known to be a very generous culture, they live with the friendly concept of what is mine is yours, and what yours is mine. There are 5 students and 2 staff heading out to Samoa and we are all so excited. There is another team of 12 that is heading out to the Solomon Islands on the 21st of October and also will be returning in mid November. They are scheduled to do similar types of evangelizing but also are intented to do a small concrete project.

After 3 months of learning about God's love and training how to express it, we are now excitedly beginning a journey in which we will use that knowledge to be inspirational as well as to be inspired. We ask you if you could please pray for both teams for safety and protection not only physically but spiritually. Also if you could pray for the people of Samoa and the Solomon Islands and prepare there hearts for our teams coming. Thank you so much for all your prayers and I will continue to try and keep the Blog updated.

With Love and Blessings

Marine Reach Discipleship Training School

Kia Ora Friends and Family,

I would just like to start off by apologizing for it taking so long for me to create my new blog page. It has been a very amazing but busy last few months. But the Blog is made and here to stay so please feel free to check up for updates and also feel free to email me at LCromelin@ymail.com if you have any questions about anything or simply just want to chat, I am open for anything. I really thank you for visiting and I hope you enjoy it.

My Amazing Journey So Far...

The Pacific Challenge Discipleship Training School is a Christian based ministry school bringing all walks of life from all over the world together to train and prepare aspiring short term and future long term missionaries. We have the blessing to be able to all serve the people in and around the South Pacific. There are 15 members on the team representing 10 different nations around the world. Countries such as Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, The Philippines, Colombia, England, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States all aging 18-28 years. It has been so amazing being able to spend time learning and growing with young adults that have come from all around the world.

The school begins with a 3 month lecture phase preparing students for a 2 month outreach. The lecture phase has a subject each week focusing on one different aspect of serving and bettering your relationship with God. Our schedule looks something like this,

Week 1 Jessie Misa, Father Heart of God:
A week to really grasp on to our identify. Knowing how important things such as being chosen by God and being a personal possession of God. Great way to start off DTS.

Week 2 Femi Oni, Nature and Character of God:
Definitely our most controversial week. Femi is a man of African descent but raised in England. He was loud and confident about his personal convictions. He taught us that Gods primary purpose is to fully restore a person into the perfect state in which he created him. This was week was pretty cool though, one of my classmates Caroline was baptized this week and it was really cool to be a part of that. She has grown so much in her faith and truly becoming an inspiration. Plus she was wearing my wet suit during the baptism so not only did Caroline get renewed by the Holy Spirit but my wetsuit did to. Ha here she is...









Week 3 Linda Cowie, Boundaries:
It was awesome having Linda come and speak with us, we all called her mom do to the fact that she was so nice and sweet to everyone. She spoke on the issues of life and how to approach them with God and handle them responsibly. God gave us freedom and with freedom comes responsibility.

Week 4 Dean Shermon, Relationships:
Dean Shermon was interesting; it was a week of watching the lesson of him on video. I thought it was great though. We learned how important it is to put God first in all of friendships and relationships with a loved one. To have a pure heart and not let the condition of your heart affect your relationships.

Week 5 David Dishroon, Faith:
David taught us about how faith is confidence, certainty and a firm belief. Knowing that faith is an action and how important it is to have endurance in your faith in God.

Week 6 Jono Turner, Repentance:
Keeping your hearts clean and pure so there is nothing in your heart that would not let God fully surrounds you in his love. Developing a lifestyle to recognize God’s will and Gods acceptance. Repentance is not turning away from bad things but turning towards God creating love and pure heartedness.

Week 7 Brandon Gardner, Evidence that demands a verdict:
Or also known as apologetics. He spoke on the theory of evolution vs. creation. Also another speaker that spoke strongly on his personal convictions and his personal beliefs.

Week 8 Carolyn Chisholm, Fear of the lord:
This week was very interesting; Carolyn had come to speak on how to understand Gods power but also Gods love and gentleness. This week turned out a little differently becoming a week a week where we really came together as a team, praying so much for each other. We confessed to each other and really broke any spiritual walls that were there and blocking our relationships as a family. It was a very much needed week and really helped us grow so much in our walks with God together.

Week 9 Big wave Dave, Your calling:
David was awesome, he told his story about when he was 18 he decided to head out onto a surfers DTS. After his DTS he felt a calling to go to Afghanistan and spent 5 years there spreading the word of God and living out Gods calling for him. He is now 25 and traveling around sharing his testimony and working with Youth With A Mission. His inspirational story touches so many young lives and now he is seeking out Gods calling for him to start up a fire in the hearts of this generation. He really got everyone very excited to seek God and believe that there is more in there life’s that they can do then they think.

So that is where we are at currently and are moving into our final week of lectures. The School has absolutely flown by but has changed each one of our hearts. It’s been amazing to see how every student has been touched in their own specific ways.

Now our team is being blessed with the opportunity to serve 2 3rd world nations, being Samoa, and the Solomon Islands. The team has been split into 2; one team of 7 and the other of 12 students and staff. The team I am on is the team of 7 going to Samoa. We are team Tauria, the name coming from a historical canoeing tribe that began in the early tribes of the Maori tradition. The Solomon Island team being team Awara also a Maori historical tribe. We are so excited to see what God has planned for us in these Islands. We currently do not know exactly what we are doing but we know that we will have the possibilities to work medically, evangelizing, giving aid in building/churches, and simply just sharing our love for Jesus to the islanders. After returning from the islands in mid November both teams will join back together and begin our public relations tour down through the south island of New Zealand where we will be speaking in churches and schools to spread the word about what God is doing in Marine Reach as a ministry. We leave on the 18th of October for our trips and have been doing so much to raise funds for our teams such as bake sales, car washes, jewelry sells, and simply just generous donations. God is doing so much for us. Praise God!


Prayer Requests,

If you could please pray for both teams in our preparing for our trips, that we can touch the hearts or the islanders and also be able spread the awesome news to the south island of New Zealand and share what we have done in the islands.

Currently I have been offered the opportunity to stay in New Zealand and staff the next 2 DTS's. I feel God is calling me to take on the challenge and live the adventure that God is putting through. If you can pray for me and my personal strength to know and trust in my faith with what Gods will is for me.

Simply if you can just pray for our unity as a team and that we can be a strong body of Christ and not break in times of stress. We have all been brought here together for a reason and want to continue being strong as a family.

Thank You so much for all your prayers and support for me, you guys' are all such a blessing.