I looked up from my plate painted with the remnants of camp food just in time to catch eyes with a vibrant young girl. She threw her arms around my neck and squeezed tightly. “Thank you!” She continued with such sincerity in her voice, “I was in your elective. I’ve never thought about missions like that before. I think I want to go.”
Zoe was just one of thirty other young people throughout New Zealand who filled out a card to learn more about what we do here! Here are some more exciting things that happened during the 3 weeks I was in New Zealand:
- We attended two youth camps with a collective 500+ young people in attendance, speaking at an elective at each camp
- We connected with 11 different leaders and past0rs from all over the north island
- We got connected with a university ministry we didn’t have any previous relationship with
- I was able to attend a pastors’ lunch and as a result we got connected with a new network of churches
- We got connected with a Ch1nese church in NZ
- We connected with a bunch of youth leaders and built tons of new connections and deepened existing ones
- We had great conversation with the national youth director and made plans for the next steps
- We are in the processes of planning a national short-term trip from NZ for this December
Despite a trip to urgent care, a root canal, flat tire and lost luggage, God did AMAZING things during this trip! Thank you so much for standing with me and Autumn as we were in NZ. I am so expectant for incredible fruit to come from this trip.