Seven Glimpses of Heaven

It is impossible to write about everything amazing that happened this past week. We had an amazing trip down to the South Island in which God showed up every step of the way and increased my faith immensely. We prayed so much before and throughout the entire trip, and God answered in incredible ways. Our team of 10 people was unified, with expectation of God's power, and of course, laughing the whole way. We took the ferry to the South Island on Monday morning, with no accommodation or plans arranged.  We were completely dependent upon God to provide, and provide He did. Here are seven highlights of the trip:

1. Street Ministry: Most of us, as well as I, were first-timers. We did a type called ï»¿ï»¿treasure hunting, ï»¿where we listened to God for clues about people that He wanted us to talk to and ask if they need prayer for anything. So we headed to a mall and for about an hour and a half wandered about looking for people that fit the clues that we hear God say to us (ie. red shoes, fur coat, recent job loss, named Bethany, etc.). I ended up approaching four people, three of which did not want prayer. It was a bit discouraging at first for me, but I can hope that a seed was planted in their lives. Others were more successful, such as Shanan, the treasure hunting expert on our team. He ended up praying for a guy with a hurt ankle (which Shanan brought up as an ankle was one of the clues he received) who had just had surgery, and it got completely healed! The guy was shocked as well as his friends. God is awesome.
2. Accommodation: ï»¿Considering we had no arrangements, we did quite well for ourselves, with each night better than the last. God had it all arranged for us. Night 1: The freezing garage of Reuben's family friends. Night 2: A youth center at a church. Night 3: Christian university flat–We met an awesome girl in a park who heard us worshipping and asked to join. She found out we had no place to stay that night, and invited us to stay in her living room, which happend to be full of couches and mattresses. Night 4: A mansion–A wonderful Christian family whose daughter Reuben had met once. Night 5: The mansion again–we didn't have to re-pack! God is sovereign.
3. 0800 HUNGRY: ï»¿We worked two days in a row at this food bank, packing up boxes of food and other necessities to give to the poor. The people that worked there were super nice and provided us with food twice: 1) We had been craving meat pies and were planning on buying some for lunch, but instead the employees told us they would make us lunch and guess what they made? Meat pies! 2) They gave us a bunch of food to take on the road with us the second day. God provides.
4. Youth Groups: ï»¿We went to three different youth events. One of them was run by Christians but not connected to a particular church. They were Jr. High kids, and there were a lot of trouble-makers, dropping F-bombs all over the place. However, I loved hanging out with them and they really had a good time with us. It was great to just love on them because a lot of them do not have good home lives. God is love.
5. Filming: ï»¿It just so happened that Reuben's family friend needed to record a video for his church encouraging youth to go on global missions. He interviewed me and a few others for it. God's timing is perfect.
6. Christchurch: We ï»¿took some time to walk and pray around the Christchurch CBD, and saw all of the destruction that the earthquake caused a year ago. It was heartbreaking to see the destroyed buildings and lives due to the disaster. God is our only hope.
7. COMPLETE DEPENDENCE UPON GOD=GOD SHOWS UP.