I will just say that the last week and a half has been absolutley incredible as we have seen and experienced some of the most beautiful terrain God ever created! Up to this point we have been in Waikanae in the North Island staying at a Christian family camp called El Rancho. The team has jumped head first into the ministry of cleaning up and painting some of the buildings at the camp to get them ready for upcoming events.
As I'm sure most of you have heard, there were several earthquakes that hit a very weary Christchurch in the last week. A trip to Christchurch had already to been planned to help serve from the previous disaster, but as a result of Monday's quakes, God opened doors for us to get down there sooner that we had originally planned. Right now the people feel devastated and hopeless…they thought things were beginning to settle down and many of the relief teams had just been moved out of the city when the quakes hit last Monday.
So, we have mobilized our team and took an incredible day travelling down to the Christchurch area (I'm sure there will be several blogs posted about that experience) and we have begun ministering to the people here. The most immediate need is the removal of a substance called liquifaction, which is silt and sand mixed with water that has risen to the surface from deep within the ground. We were able to talk with the residents and listen to their experiences and their stories and pray with them.
We will be serving here for about a week and will be sharing stories with all of you about the amazing things God is capable of doing in this broken city.
Tanna & Justin
