Here

I am safely in NZ.

Arrived here on Thurs. morning

I got to relax and rest on Thurs and Dad arrived later that afternoon.

Friday morning, the District Conference for Wesleyan Church of NZ began. I went with Jane (my NZ mom) and my Dad to the first sessions. And basically my weekend thus far has been filled with conference sessions and seminars. It's been good. Last night, I got to go to my first Surge night (youth group). First night I was here was a costume party so I stole Simon's (Jane/Richard's son) school uniform. I was later introduced as the intern after fooling all the student's. Good times. But tonight, we are all headed to the evening session of conference. And tomorrow morning, Dad is speaking at ECW and I believe I am playing a song during communion. I feel really scatterbrained so I apologize if this post made little sense!

keep praying.

-john

Auckland

I am finishing packing and leaving for NZ in a couple hours.

Thank you for all the prayers and support you have given. Keep praying.

I will try and update once I arrive in NZ but until then...thanks again!

-john

Backward/Forward

It has been a week since I arrived home from Africa.

That trip changed many small things in me.

I learned to:

read the Bible in my spare time

pray often

God has Plan A

Valuable lessons that I hope to keep close to my heart.

Now, 6 days until I leave for my 8 mo. adventure to New Zealand.

I'm starting to get really excited.

Thank you for all the support and prayer that you have given!

keep praying.

-john

Day 10 - Rest and Experiences

Watched a movie in the same location it was filmed in.

District 9.

I slept in until 10am. That was awesome. Today was a day of rest. Much needed. After tea time, we went with Bonventure to the Apartheid Museum in Pretoria. I've never experienced anything like that. I don't really know how to describe it. The thousands of injustices and abuses that occurred during that time are unbelievable. I'm glad I got to see it though. After the museum, we drove home and saw 2 car accidents on the highway. Interesting. After arriving home for 5 mins, we left with Jacu, Elska and Bonventure to the Menlyn Mall in Pretoria. We ate at Braza, a local African cuisine restaurant. Highly recommend next time you make your weekly trip to South Africa to eat there. After that, we went to see District 9. I've already seen it but it was totally different seeing it here. I recognized almost every location in the movie. I felt special. I'm going to bed now. This has been an awesome week.

keep praying.

-john

Day 9 - Bulubehzle School

Last day of Hopefest.

Last day waking up at 4:30am.

Today started out the same as the past 2. Waking up at 4:30am. We drove the 2 hrs to Ketalahon and arrived at the school. The staging/location was awesome. Really organic with grass growing out from the old cement stage that was probably built at least 30 yrs. ago. I thought it was really cool. The day went smoothly. The kids payed attention more than any of the schools this week. There were around 2000 kids there that day. We prayed as a group collectively and asked God to bless today and thanked Him for the glory He has shown this past week. At the end of the day around 200 kids made first time commitments to Christ and purity. 200 new beginnings. 200 adoptions. This week has been incredible. At the end of the day we all packed up, said goodbye to the crew, thanked everyone and headed out for the last time. I won't miss waking up at 4:30am but I will miss the experience of life change and authentic worship. I want to carry this with me wherever I go. And prayer is the difference. I saw miracles happen. Real life miracles. I heard the shrieks of demons. I saw the power of the Creator. The final tally?8000 students fed. 1200 commitments to Christ and a pure life. What more could you ask for?

keep praying.

-john

Day 8 - Fumana High School

I went to the location for the movie "District 9" today.

Cool huh?

Today started at 5am. We crammed 8 people in a 5 seat car today. And drove for almost 2 hrs. Interesting start to an already early morning! We arrived at Fumana High School (expected 2600 students) and began sound checking and preparing for the morning. Around 8am, we got news that the school was holding standardized exams in the room right next to the stage and we could not continue the Hopefest until 1pm (school releases at 2pm) or go from 8:30am - 10am. Bad news. Our now 5 hr. program was being cut to 1.5 hr. We decided quickly to start at 8:30 and go until 10. We began the program, trying our best to condense it too fit in as much as we could and still give an altar call/commitment time. Stressful to say the least. Around 9am, we got word that the school was going to let us continue on with the Hopefest until 2. Great news. We had to take a break from 9-11 to give the exams time to finish. We thanked God for His plan being better than ours. The program continued at 11, the students however were unfocused. As you could imagine 2600 students in 80 deg. sunny weather doesn't work too well to pay attention for that amount of time. Micah and a few other volunteers and I posted ourselves around the students and began to pray and ask God that they open their hearts to the message of salvation being given. When Cyrus gave the altar call, around maybe 90 students came to the front and by the end around 300 students were standing in front receiving new life. Kids were pouring from the sides of the buildings and coming to the front. At the end of the day, around 340 students came to know Christ and commit to a life of purity/abstinence. When I saw this from the stage, tears came to my eyes. I realized that God did not need our program to work miracles. He doesn't need us to lead worship. We have the privilege of taking part in His work. And for that I was thankful. Tomorrow is our last Hopefest. I can't wait to see what God does.

keep praying.

-john

Day 7 - Soweto High School

I woke up at 4:30am today.

That's enough to make up a post.

We packed up the gear and began the driving to Soweto (about 1.5 hr. away). It was an early morning to say the least. Once we arrived we did the usual sound checks and preparing for 9am to roll around. We kicked off the day w/ "Count Me In". The day went well with exception to one thing, the principal of the school would interrupt and disrupt the set program with his own plans. At one point, he interrupted the music set and began playing "My Country Tis of Thee". Not after long we realized that the Devil was again using spiritual warfare to combat the message of hope that we were there to spread. We began praying and praying. As one of the R4L staff from Zambia, Richman, was giving the commitment time/altar call, the principal again interrupted and began speaking, immediately one of the Hopefest volunteers grabbed me and some of the band and began praying for the altar call time. Students had been leaving and not paying attention to the program but began coming back to the area and coming forward to receive Christ, by the end of Richman's invitation, around 200 students came forward to receive Christ and commit to purity. Another proof of God's power and control in any situation. Times like when a principal interrupts a crucial part of the program, I feel completely helpless, I want to control the situation. God doesn't work that way. He still has brought hundreds of fatherless children, into His arms. Tomorrow, we are going to a school, Katalahon, where we are playing for about 2600 students.

keep praying.

-john