Week 1 of Lectures

Hey everyone!
So we've come to the end of our first week of lectures! Wow this is just the beginning but already God is broadening and deepening our understanding of Him.
Just to give you a little insight into what our week looks like first...
We start with Breakfast (most important meal of the day!) 6.30-7.15am, then we have a small tidy up job we have to do for 30mins, then we have 45mins for quiet time. Then the rest of the morning is spilt into 3, first part being worship or intercession or Whanau Time (Family time with all the staff and students from all the DTS') and the second two parts being lectures. Then the afternoons are taken up with bigger work duties, fitness sessions or Justice discussion/lecture time. And evenings are then either free,a justice movie, small groups or outreach preparation.We also fit into our week church on Sunday and a one on one session with a leader,writing a 3 page journal once a week and at the moment we are reading a book and doing a book review. (those of you who know Nai well, reading a 200 page book in 11 days is gonna be a challenge!) So it's pretty jam packed! We're loving it though! We are enjoying spending time with all the students and staff, discussing what we're learning etc, worshipping, talking, praying, playing games!
We managed to escape for a bit of time together today to explore the beautiful scenery! (see pic!)

This weeks lectures were on worship and intercession.
It was great not only to receive teaching on this but put it into practice too.Some main things that stood out to us or were good to be reminded of...
- Worship is us simply responding and giving back to Him what He has given to us.
- You can't fully compliment/praise someone you don't know or you haven't spent time with, without it being shallow or sounding fake and without it being based mainly on appearance. Deep compliments/praise come from knowing someone deeply and spending lots of time with them. It's the same with our praise of God, the more time we spend with Him and the more we know Him the more fully we can praise Him.
- Intercession needs to start with us asking God what his will is. Also we're standing in the gap for the people or situation, representing earth to heaven, putting ourselves in their position and identifying with them - this is so helpful and aids intercession so much.

Lots to be learnt and applied! This weeks lectures are on the Nature and Character of God. How is that going to be condensed into a week?!

Thanks for your continued prayers. Praying for you too, much love from us.

We're here!

Wow we made it! What a crazy whirlwind the last 2 months has been. From moving out of our house on the 13th/14th December,finishing our jobs, then leaving England on the 29th December, and then finally getting to New Zealand on 10th January and finishing our final leg of the journey and arriving at the YWAM base/our 'home' for the next 5 months yesterday afternoon! 

We feel hugely blessed,grateful and excited (if a little daunted at the same time!) to be here and want to say a huge thank you for your love, support, and prayers. Thanks for journeying with us in this all. We are so thankful! 

Today we had our first day of our Justice DTS (discipleship training school). It's so exciting to be starting, after quite a journey (spiritually and physically!) to get to this point. We're excited to find out all that God has in store for these next 5 months we get to spend together with Him! 

There are 20 of us on this DTS and we have 7 people staffing it, with speakers from lots of different places that will be coming in each week to share on different topics. We are all staying in a house together down the road from the main Tauranga YWAM base. 

Tomorrow we have an official Maori 'Welcoming to the land' called a 'Powhiri'. The local Maori tribe will be welcoming us with a whole amazing ceremony which will include a warrior challenge, exchanging of speeches,songs and we get to do the 'Hongi' (google it! great way to get to know people!) and we will share food together. We are really excited about this really cultural experience...look forward to showing you pics! 

Till next time...