I have so much to share with you, first of all though, l want to take great joy in announcing that:

ALL MY MONEY FOR OUTREACH CAME IN ON TIME!! I’M GOING TO INDIA AND NEPAL!!

I absolutely could not have done it without the generosity of all of you who contributed. Both those who prayed for the money to come in, your prayers were answered and to those that donated, you will definitely see the results in the coming months of the huge blessing that was to not only me, but the team and the people of India and Nepal.

I’ve done a lot recently. Together with my co-leader Talea, We have, though many emails with our contacts, finalised most of what we will be doing in India and are currently awaiting confirmation on Nepal. In India we’ll be working with a number of ministries. One in particular is a ministry called Life Connection whose purpose is “To rescue, restore and reconnect street children in Kolkata ( Calcutta ) with their families and reintegrate them into society. To prevent them from falling into a cycle of social, physical and emotional ills. To build relationships with them in their own environment and to provide an alternative environment to help to disciple them.” We are also going to be travelling to the region of Odisha on the coast of India and working with various ministries down there. I’m really very excited to go to India and serve the people there!

Something else I was very much involved in was what we call “Corporate Week” now nicknamed “Family Week” by the students. In a nutshell its where all the different DTSs’ come together for a week of corporate learning. Normally the campus flies in a band to lead the praise and worship times and this quarter we had Sean Feucht and Rick Pino leading. I was asked to do sound for the week and it was tons of fun and a bit of a challenge given that for two days of the week I was given 10 mins to do sound check! Mostly however it was great to help out with something I love doing. The main thing that I loved about the week was the way it brought the team together and we could get rid of a few boundaries of passivity and awkwardness, feeling more like the family we will become. We got a little crazy as you would expect but it was so much fun!

My “one on one” boys, whom I am responsible for discipling/counselling during this time, have not only encouraged me greatly in my seeing them changing over the weeks and work things out with God but they have also been a tremendous blessing to me. They have prayed with me, encouraged me, forgiven me when I missed a meeting with them, championed me and honestly, become really good friends. They are all strong young men of God and it has been the greatest privilege to get to know them.

I have done a number of other projects during my time in Kona, including recording the sound for a Public Service Announcement (PSA) for The Freedom: Fiji Project. That was both a fun time filming but also somber due to the nature of the shoot. I would encourage you to continue to follow the progress of this campaign.

On set at The Freedom: Fiji Project

I’ve been really challenged recently in my passion for God, his Word and in how much time I spend with him. Yes I spend regular time with him etc but I want to see more of God. Yes I’m extremely grateful with the knowledge I currently have of him and thankful for my current experience of his power but He is an INFINITE God and by the very definition it means that there is ALWAYS more to learn about God, there is always more to learn about his power, there is always going to be new revelations of his character (Revelation 4:8). Like all relationships they grow deeper over time. So I decided that I wanted to spend some concentrated time studying the Bible.

I decided to read through the whole of the New Testament. Our class was challenged to read through the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) in a day and I prayed about it and felt that I shouldn’t stop just at the gospels but to read through the whole New Testament over the weekend. I didn’t once get bored through all 260 chapters!

I took a ton of notes as I was doing so and I was blown away at the big picture that is presented vs reading an isolated verse at time. Perspective could be a better word to describe it. To see what Jesus did, who he was, what effect he had on those around him and the world he lived in, is just remarkable and then of course reading about the early church and seeing the early church moving in the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:2-3). Each passage makes so much more sense when you read a book in its entirety. Firstly, the whole point of the book is more apparent and secondly, by far and wide, those isolated verses that bring so much confusion and controversy actually make sense when you read the chapter or better still, the whole book in CONTEXT. “Surprise!”

Due to taking my time over two days, so many things clicked in my mind as I read because it was all still fresh in my short term memory. I had the idea to pick something out of each book and highlight it. What I discovered after I was done was that the things I highlighted from each of the books, when combined, basically showed the good news, the “gospel message” if you will. You don’t need to speak for God because after all, its not YOU that saves anyone, its Jesus, so just point people to Him and let Him do the rest! Yes He’s that big.

To see the highlights from my journey through the New Testament click here

It’s my last week in Kona. Next week I board an aeroplane and outreach begins! I’m extremely excited for what God is going to do through us on outreach. We will be going not as tourists or as if we were on holidays. We are going as servants to serve the ministries and missionaries already there. To strengthen and serve their goals and vision but also to go and meet every day people who have overcome incredible injustices. To sit with them and listen to them and tell their story.

To truly be a Voice for the Voiceless.

PRAYER – for if you’re the praying type…

Answered Prayer

• That God would give me strength to lead well in my second time staffing.
• $2000 for my outreach to India/Nepal BY November 21st!! WOOOO!!!!

Prayer Points

• Team India/Nepal and especially Talea my co-leader.
• That I would grow even more and develop further the leadership gift He has given me.
• That God would continue to work on me so that I continue to grow in my knowledge of Him and in leadership.

God bless you!