Surf Instructor & South Island!

So for those who have been keeping up on my life. Thanks. Honestly, your prayers and support have been huge in keeping me going. It has been amazing how much more appreciative and grateful i have become for my friends and family who honestly support me with their words, actions, and especially PRAYERS. We become of one heart and purpose the more we do this as i read at the beginning of Philippians 2:

1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.

SURFING:
So the last two weeks Dan and I taught surf lessons for the outdoors company i work for. This last week was especially awesome. We had some amazing conversations with the teens we worked with. (i would attribute that to prayers of friends and family) I was very rejuvenated and ready for this camp. I was able to wake up extra early and call a few friends in the states( i attribute that energy to the the support prayers of friends and family). It also went smoothly as to not having any major accidents. So GOOD! Thanks for the prayers


CONVERSATIONS:
During this last week Dan and i had some crazy conversations!

• Dinner Prep- While getting ready for dinner prep one of the kids found out i was a Christian and asked if i was "hard out" or not. After a little prompting, Dan and I are having a half an hour Christians about how we believe the Bible is true and something that can be ignored
• Driving- Driving back from surfing, the teens were talking about where they would go after they died. After a little prompting, the kids asked me what i believed and i got to share the story of Christ's death and the goal of heaven and what that looks like
• Mark- Mark came up to me and said, "I am a Christian too." Mark was crazy and fun, but one of the cocky trouble makers so it was somewhat surprising to hear this. I got to spend some time hearing his testimony and encouraging him in his walk
• Soul Cravings- My mom gave me a book call Soul Cravings from Erwin Mcmanus who is a pastor in the states. I was using it as a hard surface for the campers to write on. One of the girls named Amy who is not a Christian (from what i know) started reading it... the next thing i know she wanted to keep reading it. I ended up giving it to her under the condition that she emails me in a week to discuss what she likes about it. I didn't finish it so i will buy it again, but cool stuff! It makes me smile just thinking about it.

That was my last adventure camp for the season though. Sad Days. On to the South Island.




SOUTH ISLAND:
Dan and i have been planning to go for a LONG time. Everyone who lives here says you will always regret not spending more time there. Anyways, Dan and i have been budgeting, planning, and pushing this off until we had the money and we are going to squeeze it out now! We will be gone for close to two weeks and leave today or tomorrow (Saturday or Sunday)! I'm sure we will have some videos and good times to share when we get back. It will also be an amazing time to process, look to the future, journal, and explore! So check back in two weeks!

Rainbows

Future Blogs: People I was Reminded of..., Last weeks Adventures, My Thoughts on Evangelism

All Week Long in the midst of this madness, Dan and I have seen bold rainbows at least once a day! At the beginning of the week i was reminded of God's promise to Noah and faithfulness to never just give up on us as humans and sweep us all away by water again until his return! I saw these rainbows as a sign of watching over me, telling me not to give up even though everything inside of me wanted to. Dan has been seeing them as a curse as he lost his lens trying to take a picture of one! :)

Well today we went on a search for Dan's camera... and guess what.... We FOUND it!!!
Not only that, none of the glass lenses shattered from the 6 foot fall from a van window going 40 miles an hour! Not only that but the way i found it was by jogging next to a biker asking him how to report a lost lens! Right after we found the lens a rainbow appeared back in the valley. It is faint, but there is a rainbow just above the tree behind Dan's head. Praise God. We felt loved today.

That is $500 saved! Also, in the process Dan's mom asked about traveler's insurance. This is still a big MIGHT, but we MIGHT get reimbursed for some of the other accidents such as the lens, my camera, my surfboard, or maybe the accident!

God has redeemed a lot of stuff that has happened so far
Dan's lens lost and found
My wallet lost and found
Car accident is paid off
My computer broke and fixed
Ipod was replaced by $20 mp3 player from Rod's work
My cell phone died but given replacement from friend

I have so much to blog and so little space to actually intrigue you and keep you reading...
until next time.

The last two weeks!

This next week i will be instructing a surf camp at Raglan's (rated one of the top ten surf beaches in the world!)

This last week me and Dan were instructing surf lessons at Tairua, close to hot water beach where Dan and I traveled earlier.


Before that i had a good time with the crew over Easter
Josh & Becca, Annie, David, Graemme, Dorine, Emily Fussner, Julia, and Dan all got together and had lunch, had an easter egg hunt, played on Josh's Wi, went to a park and threw a frisbee around, and then went back and hung out. It was such a good day.


Before that i was able to meet up with the Waughs and some of these friends for dinner after work on Saturday. I was able to help a lady at work that day in a really cool way that i will post on soon.

Dan's girlfriend Julie came a week earlier and they spent a week traveling the North Island. it was good to see her during her time here!

Prayer

Right Now i need your Prayer

I will put an update up in the next day or two with all of the adventures but before that, i need to ask for your support.

I have taken a lot of hits lately. It's hard because there has been good things happening too, but my credibility and capability of being responsible have just been ripped to shreds. I have really come to a place where i don't even trust myself let alone expect others to trust me for being responsible with anything!

I have felt under attack.
i am not shying away from my responsibility, but there has just been too much that has gone wrong to take it as just coincidence. I don't know of hidden sin and really feel like it is just a time of attack and testing

Dan has posted on this as well. Click Here to Read

Just a quick recap of what has happened since i've benn here:
This Last Week
*work surfboard flew off roof and i will have to pay for repairs
*Dan's expensive camera lens fell out of car window
*My surf fin snapped and fell off van
*Dan lost and ripped 2 favorite shirts
Rest of Trip:
camera lens broke on my camera (using lender right now)
Everything went wrong on youth camping trip
*Van broke down (borrowing from senior pastor Mike Y.)
*Didn't make it to camp ground
*tents blew down
*couldn't swim cause the water was too shallow
Got in an accident with a cranky guy and his show car
*cranky guy took Dan's driver's license
*had to pay for accident since it was my fault
*had to drive in rain until our car window was fixed
lost my wallet- social security number, driver's license/ID, bank cards, etc.
My i-pod and adapter was stolen
cell phone got water in it and died
laptop needed a battery replaced

So Right now i need your prayer.
I have been making progress on my dreams and future, but if i feel like i am supposed to lead or be responsible for leading anyone i need a lot of restoration in my life right now. I see myself as accident prone. (i think most would). The problem is, with all the accidents right now, i doubt my capabilities of any responsibility. There have been multiple times this last month where i have said in my head, "i QUIT!" I want to go in my room and not take responsibility for anything or find some job where i don't have to put anyone or anything at risk! I know God redeems my efforts, but i feel like everything i touch gets broken or lost! :) In one sense it is funny and makes me want to laugh, but in reality when something happens, i am so sensitive right now, that this laughing leads straight into whining tears that just say, "i'm done."

I would appreciate your prayers for my restoration and strength over this binding of failure that is over my life. It might be teaching me what matters most, it may be strengthening me for the future, it may be shaping me for my dreams, it may be just a time of testing somewhat like Job, but whatever it is, thank you for your prayers and support in this journey as i serve the church and pray for the people of New Zealand.

Thanks

Happy Easter

Off to Easter service right now. Had a good day yesterday. I will be posting later tonight on some of the cool things God has been doing

Paid off

I drove to Steve's house and paid off the accident. Even though it was small it feels so good to put that behind me for the time being. I have been working a TON this week to make up for that accident. You know what i realized. I have spent a lot time focusing on myself and my problems. I am excited to start shifting my focus back towards others more and seeing how i could help them! Thanks for your prayers and support. This trip has been so good knowing that i have family, friends, and your prayers behind me. IWU should be getting out soon! I need to call and email a few friends this weekend in the midst of their stress!

Fulfilling Day

I woke up today
Picked up my license
Worked 8 hours
drove and played netball
shopped for a few toiletries
Stopped in on Annie Wright and Emily Fussner for a couple of hours
drove back
and vegged

These days are fulfilling because i am getting the majority of the needs my personality and body makeup needs

I got exercise (netball)
I executed my responsibility (work) (another example would be school, church, etc.)
I got tasks done- picked up my wallet and got shopping done
I had spontaneous time- visiting Annie and Emily
I had time to read- (Devotions)
I got social time (work, netball, and Annie/emily)
I got alone time (driving 30 min to and from netball)
I got to help others (teach newbie at work and give gifts)

Perspective Video

I have some ideas that i think will make great short films to make a point. Maybe i will do something with it in the future with this first idea.

In relating my situations to how God must feel, Here is a situation below.

God perspective #1
Hurt-
Awhile ago i had a friend named John accuse me of not really caring for him or what mattered to him. It hurt! It hurt because i had been intentionally going out of my way to help John around the time he expressed his feelings of disappointment. John couldn't see that i could and was doing everything possible i could to help him in his current situation. At least everything that i could do to help him within my good conscience. That night that he accused me of not caring or only somewhat caring, John touched something deep. It hurt.

It not only accused me, it accused my love for him, it challenged all my efforts to show him how much i loved him and wanted the best for him. I sobbed. I honestly hadn't cried uncontrollably like that in a long time. How could he not see that i had sacrificed my time, put his immediate needs above my own, done everything i could do to help him at the time, and it still wasn't enough because John's problem wasn't fixed and he hadn't gotten what he wanted?!?

I can't imagine what it would feel like being a parent and hearing your child say, "You don't love me or care about me!" I would be devastated.

I can't even come CLOSE to imagining what it would feel like to make humans, to create this world of good and try your best to love on humans and to have SO many say,
"You don't even care about me."
or
"I don't even know who you are"
or
"You don't even care about me, you just want what is best for yourself."
or

to have so many choosing to hurt themselves, hold on to their own problems and only seeing what they are not getting what they want and accusing you of not loving them because of it. We are pretty screwed up as humans!

Thank you God for putting up with us.

I appreciate you doing your best for us

And for creating this world that you thought would be best for us to learn how to grow and find you in it.

Videos and ramblings

Good Hair Day Video

Tomorrow i will work and play my first game of netball! I will videotape a segment so you can see what it looks like to, because i have no idea how the flow of the game will look myself.

Capture the Flag Clip
The guys and i started to make a promo video for capture the flag. Click Here to see one of the videos.

Updates on my life

So let me paint a picture. I was in the middle of starting to write a post on my weekend excursions and where all my problems were at.

teens crossing stream

No wallet, which means no driver's license which means i lost a job opportunity where i would have to drive with money i need for other problems, camera getting fixed so using a lender camera, and about $1600 down for the accident (going to cost us about $200-300 to make ours roadworthy and $1450 for the other guy's car). I went on a camping trip this weekend and everything went wrong! It was a great weekend with the teens but nothing went as planned. We borrowed pastor mikes van and the clutch gave out on the hills because of the weight and strain. The van broke down on the way so we went to a different camp ground because we couldn't make it out to the cave to camp with the transport we had. Then tent blew over and the frame broke so we had to make shift a tent since it was about to rain.

The tent we made between the van and fence

I decided to take the teens for a late night swim to get their minds (or maybe mine) off the adventures so far and the water was so shallow, cold, and rocky that only 3 of us out of nine went swimming and we could only get to waist deep after walking about 200 feet off shore. When we got back the makeshift tent did... ok. It held up, but it dripped... it dripped practically on all of us. Once the guys were a sleep everything was fine although we were a little wet in the morning. The teens had a fun and memorable weekend, but as for me, it had taken a toll on me. I really felt like quitting all responsibility. But an amazing thing happened...

teens on hike

The body of Christ! I got back and the teens attitudes and the individual support i received from Julie, Geoff, Mike, Jan, Rod, Kerry, Dan, Julia, and Fiona was just incredible! I really was ready to sit in my room for awhile and just sulk, but they brought me through. God had also encouraged and shown me how my obedience was honored through my sacrifice. Thank you Lord. So here i am writing a blog and i put on the worship song "it is well with my soul" since i saw it as fitting. If you didn't know, the author who wrote that song had lost a family member if not all his family in a storm before he wrote this worship song. So i am listening to this song getting ready to write a post on how God was teaching me when i receive a call saying they found my wallet!!! That means i have a driver's license, can take the saturday job, i don't have to go through a lot of hassle for some other things! It was such a joyous moment as i got to share that with Jan and giver her a hug! I was telling people last night that i felt like this week was going to be a week of restitution. It has already started...Well, i am off to work.

Tom Yates