Fun in the heat, sun and topics... once again!
What has happened since the end of last year? We’ll let me tell you, a lot!
I’ve finished DTS school leading, completed co-leading another outreach to New Zealand and Vanuatu and now have made some plans for the new year.
School leading was a new challenge that God led me into. It was a gift and both a mountain to ascend but also to stand on top of in the end. Going into co-school leading with a training team leader to stay accountable to was a unique experience that I’m grateful to have lived through. It started with me having an idea of my role but no clear ‘do this’ or ‘do that’. The reason is because often in discipleship things aren’t a straight path. Discipleship is difficult, it takes two people and is so enriching to both sides.
I started school leading being most nervous about speaking in front of so many people. I was most excited to get to know each student and be there as they journeyed closer to God. I’m ending now, reflecting on how speaking to that big crowd of people turned into speaking to friends; and how I am amazed at God’s faithfulness to us no matter where we are at in life, if we ask, He will join us in our journey. Simple truths leading to a richer way to live.
Oh, one of my highlights during lecture phase was being able to run a 6-week mini Medical Compassion course with some students who were interested. For those who are unaware I led a Medical Compassion stream for DTS last year. The stream consisted of a series of classroom and practical teaching centering around basic primary healthcare with a biblical basis. This time I was able to teach on physical assessments, God’s view on medical missions in developing nations, wound care, compassion, tropical diseases, oral health, nutrition, and more. We finished with a practical test to tie everything together where the students had to assess different ‘patients’ in different scenarios.
Outreach team (Left to right, Back to front): Ashton, Jonas, Evan, Lianna, Lanae, Rachel, Anaiah, Steven, Eva, Madlaina, Josi
At the beginning of outreach, I co-led a team of nine students to some local places around Tauranga and we also were able to go down to Tūrangi for a week to help out a local missionary named Uncle Sam. For context to the pictures there were a total of 4 outreach teams and Anaiah and I's team was team 2. Now, Uncle Sam's ministry was to reach out to the local gangs and provide discipleship to them. He turned the most notorious gang into a community who now has a heart for raising their children well. If you want to listen to his crazy story I encourage you to do so. We were able to paint the exterior of the place that housed Sam’s guests which was an old hospital; Along with building a fence for their soon-to-be community garden. In this week our team learnt how to work together through challenges, grew in friendship and learnt how to see God working in the unexpected, unplanned moments.
At a local place in Tauranga serving at an event called A Night Before Christmas
This was both Team 2 (my team) and Team 3 serving at Uncle Sam's place in Tūrangi
One of our dinners was a special type of Hāngī, which is a traditional Māori way of cooking food in the ground with hot stones. This time we used the natural hot springs in the ground to steam our food (meat, potatoes, carrots), yummm! This picture is of when we went to pick up our dinner after cooking it within the wooden boards all day. It is covered in Mānuka and Kānuka branches for flavour.
Team 2 and Team 3 at the location of where the first Haka (Māori war dance) was preformed, it was right across from the Tongariro Alpine Crossing.
Team 2: we named ourselves the V2 Mangoes because V2 is short form for Vanuatu and we love mangoes but also man-goes... on outreach! This was us all dressed up for Christmas Eve Dinner at Marine Reach. See if you can find Mr. Mango our team mascot who is a Kiwi bird.
During outreach in Vanuatu, we went to the islands of Efate and Santo. Wow, what an amazing time we had growing in unity, love and friendship as a team. I would say our biggest challenges were the heat/humidity, infections and how the heat sapped our energy. We were able to fly to Efate and stay at the Family Care Centre (FCC) for the last two weeks of lecture phase. The FCC is a ministry that has stemmed out of Marine Reach New Zealand and aims to provide primary healthcare and dental care from their Clinic as well as serve the general community where they are located. The final week of lecture phase finished with us learning Bislama which is the national language of Vanuatu.
Team 2 at the end of Lecture phase in Vanuatu and the beginning of Outreach Phase!
Once we started outreach, we prepared to voyage on a ferry for 24 hours to the largest northern island of Vanuatu, Espiritu Santo, Santo for short. Santo is in the Sanma province of Vanuatu. We spent a total of three weeks here.
Ready to board the second ship in the picture, the Vanuatu Ferry, with our bags, food and team!
The first week we worked closely with our contacts, Megan and Lemy (and children), to serve the town of Luganville. It was a small town consisting of one main road of shops, stores, and government buildings. We picked up garbage in the local park, ran some kids mino (ministry), went and prayed for people at the hospital, and spent some time getting to know the people in town.
In the back of the truck with some of Megan and Lemy's kids
On the second week we had the privilege of going into a village that had never had a YWAM team before. They were a Seven Day Adventist village called Palon. We stayed at their school and ate with our contact family. Throughout the week we got to speak with the families around the village and build relationships with them. We attended their Saturday Sabbath church service, taught some mini DTS teachings on Sunday, and did some more kids mino on Monday. Kids mino consisted of lots of songs and dances, a Bible story or lesson, and a lot of crazy games.
In our final week in Santo, we went back to Luganville and continued doing similar ministry as before. We went to some other schools and were able to share some more mini DTS teachings.
After doing some kids ministry and sharing God's love- dancing and building relationships in the community
We were able to go back to the same church and share some of our testimonies and a mini DTS teaching on relationships
We had the opportunity to go and clean an old man's house who had been away for a year in the hospital. His house had termites, wasps, ants, centipedes, you name it and his garden was overgrown and filled with rubbish that blew in.
Overall, the three weeks were so full in the ministry moments and the small, quiet moments. Our team was able to make Simboro, a Vanuatu dish, which is a long process of husking coconuts, scraping them, milking them, cutting up taro, grating it, preparing island cabbage, and then assembling and cooking it all together. We grew closer as a team learning how to be there for each other when sick and having diarrhea (number 7s), as well as learning to keep short accounts with everyone! But how do you sum up three weeks full of so much joy, growth, sweat, tears, and a full heart?
Me grating a cooking coconut :)
After our time in Santo ended, the majority of the team headed back to Efate on a ship named Big Sista again over 24 hours while I flew back with a sick student. Most of the team unfortunately got seasick because the ship was smaller, and they felt the waves more. We stayed for our final week of outreach at FCC. Once the team had gotten some rest and recovered from being ill we were able to help FCC out with cleaning and reorganizing different areas of their buildings and did some in town evangelism too. Before we knew it, we were flying back to New Zealand for our final re-entry week of the DTS.
In the last week of DTS the students had different opportunities to reflect on lecture phase, outreach phase and DTS as a whole. They got to look back and see what God did in their lives, each other’s lives, and the lives of those they encountered on outreach. They also got to write letters to themselves (that are sent to them in three months) to encourage their future selves and remind themselves of what God has done and has promised to continue to do in their lives. It was a bittersweet week of reflecting on Gods faithfulness, graduating, and saying our last goodbyes to each other before parting ways across the world. At the end of it all though it won’t be the last time we see each other, and I am looking forwards to hearing what each student does as they let God lead them forwards.
Team 2 at DTS graduation!
Now, what are my plans moving forwards? For the rest of this year, I hope to continue part-time at Marine Reach New Zealand taking on a medical/first aid role on the base as well as being a liaison for FCC to make sure that they have the needed medical supplies to run their clinic. I also have recently purchased a car and am hoping to get a nursing job in the local area of Tauranga.
Some prayer requests would be to pray for the students as they go into the world and start new adventures with God, good health for me in general, for me to find a good nursing job (maybe ICU nursing again?), and for my family and friends and the challenges that they face! :)
Love,
Lianna
Bonus: Here is a little outreach testimony that I was asked to write:
My testimony is short and simple but I think that God often has us planting seeds in any small moment when we least expect it. It was one Sunday in sunny, hot, and humid Santo, Vanuatu. The team was attending a Bislama church called United Christian Fellowship. It was quite a small church but the attendants were overflowing out the doors. The island, jazzy worship music seemed to synchronize with the heartbeat of the Holy Spirit as we joined in the singing, dancing, and clapping congregation. We stayed for the church service and introduced ourselves to the Ni-vans. They welcomed us with open arms and hearts as we spoke with them after the service and played with their children.
Later that day the team came back to share a couple testimonies and a mini DTS teaching on the Holy Spirit. As testimonies started I had a girl sit by me who was named Sara. She told me she was in year thirteen and was deciding what to do next year. The conversation was brief partly because her younger sister came up and asked her a question also because the first testimony was starting. We sat together and listened as the team shared what the Holy Spirit led them to.
After the teaching I went out to play with the children while the team broke into small groups with the older attendants. After a while when people started leaving Sara approached me and said she had to go but she wanted to tell me something first. She shared with me how as a young child she had contracted an illness that should’ve killed her but the Lord had done a miracle and healed her. She told me her father, the pastor of the church, said this meant that she should do something for the Lord with her life. As a living testimony of God’s goodness she agreed and asked me if she could apply to the DTS happening at FCC in June. She shared that she wanted to go into missions and share the goodness that God had shared with her. I was able to give her an application for the DTS and prayed for her. After she left and I don’t know if she will attend the DTS for sure, but I will keep praying for her regardless, that she will be led by God into the calling that he has for her and her invaluable life. 1 Corinthians 3:6
Me sitting beside Sara in UCF
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