The Mustard Seed: April 2014

This concept was first explained to me when learning about God's plan for Israel. He chose to pour out His blessing and favor on the nation of Israel in the Old Testament in order that they might take what they received and bless the rest of the world (which was ultimately accomplished through producing the Messiah, Jesus). In the same way, we as believers are richly blessed by God, loved by our Father, so that we might not keep it all to ourselves but share His love with the rest of the world. We are continually blessed in order to be a blessing. This concept best describes my experiences in the past month.
When my YWAM DTS program finished, I still had a month left on my visitors visa so I decided to travel around New Zealand with some friends before heading back to the States. My friends Jonny and Matt shared my love for backpacking adventures so we made a plan to hitch to the southern most part of New Zealand (Stewart Island) and treck an extreme 10-day trail around the Island. God provided us with amazing hitches for the journey down. Our second driver picked us up with the intention of having me babysit his toddler in the backseat while he drove! We shared about our faith with each of our rides and God was faithful to get us to our destination (hitching is always a test of faith for me). We loaded up our backpacks with 12 days worth of food (my pack was over half my body-weight, 50+ lbs) and we began hiking. It rains an average of 265 days a year on Stewart Island and we had been warned it would be a muddy and cold treck. However, for the 10 days we were hiking, it only rained once and there was only one time when I sank to my knees in mud (so glad to be wearing gaiters like a good NOLSy)! We sensed that the favor of the Lord was with us and the people we met on the trail enjoyed the benefits of this favor, too. My companions and I received abundant blessing including the rich conversations we shared on the trail, gorgeous weather, a kiwi bird walking across our path one morning, accident free hiking through treacherous terrain, tents and huts to shield us from the multitudes of sand flies at camp, and many other things. I could go on and on sharing the details of this wild adventure, but for now I will move on to describing the next part of our travels.
When we made it off the Island we hitched to Queenstown to meet up with our friend Jill. Jill had found a place to stay with a woman from the local church named Paula who uses her house as a ministry by boarding non-believers. Paula graciously allowed the men to tent in her backyard while I shared a bedroom with Jill. Much to our surprise, 2 of our fellow YWAM friends (Sam and Lucas) showed up to camp in her yard for the week as well. We were so blessed to have a place to stay all together and in turn we were able to bless Paula by cleaning, cooking, praying, and talking with her roommates. While in Queenstown we spent time with local believers, encouraging them and sharing testimonies of our experiences with the Lord. We enjoyed many beautiful hikes with some of the most epic views I have ever seen. It was while in Queenstown that Jonny asked me to be his girlfriend and I happily consented. One particularly awesome story from our adventures was about a German guy named Julius who had been traveling around on his own and hitched a ride with Sam and Lukas in a different part of the country. They ran into him in Queenstown again and a third time on a trail. He camped with us for a day and toured around Milford Sound with us. During our hours in the car, I shared the Gospel with Him (which Sam and Lukas had previously done as well) and we blessed him as much as we could (buying him dinner, driving him wherever he needed, etc). He just kept unintentionally meeting up with us in various places that eventually he had to admit that it could not be coincidence. We prayed with him and fervently for him. We found out after we parted company that Sam and Lukas met him again the following week on Mt Cook. I love backpacker evangelism, even on the road!
After our weeks in Queenstown, Jonny and I decided to visit Scott Brown's campground. Scott was one of our favorite speakers from DTS (the one who taught on discipleship and Jewish evangelism) and he had extended an invitation for any students to visit his family and stay on their campground in Dansey's Pass. We hitched over there (again, the Lord was faithful to give us amazing rides to our destination). Scott graciously let me stay with the family in their house while Jonny tented by the river. We had such a peaceful time slowing down from our adventures to focus on prayer and Bible study. Scott frequently hosts Israeli travelers at his campground and while we were there 2 young adult girls came through for a few nights. We joined with Scott in some spiritual discussions with the girls and it was incredible to see their interest in learning about Jesus and the New Testament while expressing their frustrations with the legalism of Judaism! The discussion reminded me of my own experience on outreach talking with Liron from Israel.
Jonny and I helped out as much as we could around the campground (repairing a rock wall, installing some shelves, raking leaves, and planting grass). Needless to say, we did the most we could to return the blessing of Scott's family's hospitality. The Browns insisted on us joining their family morning devotions and evening dinners, truly loving us as some of their own children. At the end of the week, Scott was scheduled to teach for the following week back at YWAM Oxford and we were able to ride up with him. My final 2 days in New Zealand were spend back on base talking with a few YWAM friends and organizing all my stuff for the flight home. It was bittersweet to be leaving the beautiful country where I had experienced so much spiritual growth and had such rich fellowship, but I knew God would give me grace for whatever He called me to next. As I look back over the last month, I am overwhelmed by how blessed I was to take part in such a beautiful adventure with amazing people and I praise the Lord for His great kindness towards me!