Oh, New Zealand.
Where do I even start?
There’s so much more to this place than I ever would have expected, and I think God will continue to reveal more – more of His heart for this land and for these people.
His people –
His creation;
His children that He loves so dearly.
The more I’ve thought about it, the more sense it makes that the country the Lord sent me to is called New Zealand. See, all semester God has been calling me into deeper intimacy with Him and making me fall more in love with Him every day. The name itself shows me that this is the place He’s going to make me fall for Him even harder – it’s called New Zealand for goodness sake! It’s the land of finding new zeal.
And the people? They need it just as desperately as I do. Kiwis (another name for New Zealanders) don’t really know what poverty is. The majority of them don’t have too much or too little, but enough to just exist. They have no purpose like other countries’ inhabitants do, no zeal for anything.
For example, in Africa the people get up every morning so they can provide for their families. Their daily wages provide just enough for that day to keep them and their children alive. They have purpose in a tangible sense.
But Kiwis, they don’t.
Out of every country in the world, New Zealand has the highest suicide rate. A guy who went on this same trip a couple years ago spoke to my team about his experience when we were at training camp. He told us that someone he kept in contact with from New Zealand sent him an email, awhile back after he’d returned to the U. S., requesting prayer because there had been a suicide outbreak.
A suicide outbreak?
I'd never even heard of that before, and apparently it happens often here. If there are suicide outbreaks, could you only imagine the amount of demonic attacks that go on here? How much these people need love and prayer?
These people need a new zeal – a new zeal for life. They are so hungry for a reason to live, much more than just existing, and I believe that reason is named Jesus. Which is why the Lord has sent my team to this place.
We’re here to give these people a new zeal for life – a zeal for the Lord!
We're here to give these kiwis a reason to live life and life to the fullest (and while we’re at it, I see the Father giving my team a new zeal for Him as well)!
We're here to pour out love on these people in a way they have never experienced love before;
We are here for Love’s cause and we will fight for it.
