#1: How many kids do you want? - John D.
Great question! If they're all like Samara, we'll take a dozen :)
#2: What is the main source of food you enjoy from New Zealand? - Andy W.
Where we live in New Zealand is about Latitude 37 S. That's comparable to Santa Cruz, California, and Sicily, Italy, in the northern hemisphere. I think my favorite foods right now are the fruits - it is the middle of summer, so we have two plum trees in our backyard that have been producing a delicious and abundant harvest. I also went blueberry picking last week, and we have nectarines that are just on point. In August and September, we have citrus fruit at the base, in June and July, the kiwi fruit start to find their way to the table. Also, there's a fejoia tree on the base, and a passionfruit orchard near the base, and we have an avocado orchard as well at the base - so there are a lot of really good produce!
New Zealand is known for lamb and dairy - personally, I'm not a huge fan of either, but apparently we have really good quality of both of those!
#3: How did you know God called you to New Zealand? What should I look for to know God's call on my life? - anonymous
Oh, this is gonna get long!
For us, the journey to living in New Zealand has been a long process. I'd say God has had us both on this road, and in hindsight, we see a lot of little indicators that got us here, but 10 years ago, I never would have said I'd like to be living in New Zealand at this point! I'll outline a couple, but know that this is just a faction of the process:
1 - both Gabe and I wanted to be involved in missions for a long time. I first realized, "I don't know if the USA is where I'll live my whole life" when I was in middle school. As I got older, that conviction grew until I knew that I would feel like I'd compromised something if I just settled into a life long term in the USA. That directed a lot of my decisions - what to study in school, who I would or wouldn't date, what I did with my spare money, etc. For Gabe, I think the story was a little different, but it was during his first DTS that he knew he wanted to be completely surrendered to the Lord for his future.
2 - we met each other, and as our relationship grew, so did the idea of living overseas as missionaries - since now we had each other to pursue that dream with.
3 - we quit our jobs in the US, sold our stuff, and moved to Thailand as the first stage in a vision trip/discovery journey of what we wanted to pursue in missions.
4 - we were interested in doing something medical to try it on for size and see if that was a passion of ours, and since neither of us had extensive medical experience, we needed something that was entry-level friendly, AND we wanted to do a DTS, so we searched medical DTS and the New Zealand base where we are currently came up on google.
5 - we emailed the base, and they responded to our specific questions very quickly and thoroughly. The other three YWAM bases we emailed either didn't respond or it took them a very long time. We appreciate efficiency, so that was an initial green light.
6 - once we were on our way to the DTS, we almost left and went home without completing the DTS. We felt like the Lord had begun to give some direction for the long term, and we weren't sure doing a DTS was the best use of our time and savings. Then, on the first day of DTS, our base director gave a message to the students where he shared he felt some of the students were living out of their own wisdom and pride, and it was time to submit and surrender to the Lord. We were both very convicted by that, as we realized that although we wanted to do missions, we were trying to do it OUR way. So we repented and stayed.
7 - After the week that focused on the subject of Hearing God's Voice (i.e.: "Tuning in to Radio Jesus" as we've since heard it called), we discussed how we wanted our marriage and our life to be something that we invited God to have an active part in directing and guiding. We began doing something that we try to do even now, which we call a "Detail Day." It's named because of one of the principles we learned during Hearing God's Voice week, which is that sometimes we ask God for direction, and he gives it to us, but we don't stick around long enough and/or ask him for the DETAILS of how to carry out those directions - we just rush ahead with the directions. It's like having someone come up to you and say, "Can you bake a chocolate cake -" And you jump in and say, "Yes! I'll get right on it!" and you run off, run to the store for ingredients, come home, start making it, and whip up the chocolate cake, take it to the person who asked and say, "Here's your chocolate cake!" and they say, "Thank you, but you left so soon, I didn't have time to tell you, I was wanting to know if you can bake a chocolate cake for my son's birthday party next month - I need it to be gluten free, egg free, and dairy free." Basically, we realized we didn't want to be rushing out on God when he was half way through a sentence. We want to hear all the details he wants to give us about how to live our lives. So once a week (or so), rather than doing a normal, individual quiet time, we sit down together and ask God to speak to us about the details of our lives."
8 - During the detail days, the Lord began to speak to us about the future - asking what we wanted, what would be our dream. Neither of us felt like New Zealand long term had been on our radar, but both of us LOVE New Zealand - there's just something that feels so "home" like about it. So we each, individually, began sharing with the Lord that we liked New Zealand, and we would love to stay longer, but we didn't want to stay if that wasn't what he wanted.
9 - Also during the detail days, and while we were talking, we began to realize that we want to be equipped to disciple people as we do missions, and we didn't honestly feel like we really knew how to do that.
10 - Our base director asked us if we'd consider coming back on staff for a year, starting in January. We had already been processing how we wanted to go back to the USA for a season since it had been a long time, so as we prayed, neither of us felt like the very next school was right for us, but both of us felt like it was OK to consider coming back and to take the invitation as an opportunity from the Lord to gain more and give more to discipleship in New Zealand. We also knew that the Lord had been challenging us to begin a family, and so we asked if the base would still be welcoming of us if we were to get pregnant. Our base director gave an affirmative answer for that, so we felt like this could be a place for us even as our family grew.
11 - We were sort of just waiting for the Lord to speak more clearly and give us the details for if we were to come back, and then we had a day where there was a lot of prayer time, but not a lot of lectures. I had my bible and my notebook, and I asked the Lord if he wanted to speak anything to me. I felt like he directed me to a chapter in Deuteronomy, and I got the sense that it had to do with our future and the question of coming back to DTS. As I read it, there was a lot of numbers, and I was at first skimming over them, but there didn't seem to be anything else in the chapter. So I asked the Lord, "I don't get it, what does this mean?" and I felt like he said, "Go back and read it again." So I did, and then I was just distracted by the numbers, and I was like, "Lord, I really don't get this." And he said, "What do you notice?" And I said, "Uh, the numbers." And he said, "So, pay attention to them." The numbers were describing the perimeter of the tabernacle, and I started adding them up. If each unit was one day, the total number of units described came to equal one year and five months. I felt like the Lord said, "Commit to coming back to staff for 3 schools - one year and five months - and during that time, I'll develop in you and Gabe and your marriage the ability to carry my presence like the tabernacle represented my presence." So that's what we did!
Then we had to jump through a bunch of hoops to get our 2 year work visa, and all of that came through, and we were able to work and build support while we were at home for those 6 months to fund our life for the 3 school, so we just kept walking through the doors as they seemed to open.
So, that's our story - but what to look for as far as knowing God's call on your life, that's a broad question - but I think a couple things come to mind:
1 - God might direct you totally differently than he directed us. Each of us is unique, and I think his heart is for relationship, and just like I don't have the exact same relationship with any two people, neither, I think, does God have the exact same relationship with any of us.
2 - I think sometimes we can get caught up in trying to figure out a long-term "target" so to speak of what to aim toward to please God, but I think actually he's a lot more about the process of getting to a destination than we are. Basically, I'm really not sure what God's "Call" on my life is - I know that he has given me a husband and a daughter, and that's one of the areas of investment he wants me to make. I know he's given us the opportunity to live here in New Zealand and work with an organization that disciples young people - so I want to be ready to invest in this place and these people with the talents and giftings I have. I know he's invited me in to relationship with him, and I'm trying to be more intentional and grow in how I can steward that relationship and invest him and do things to please him. Beyond that, I have no idea what my life will look like in 20 years, or 10 years, or even 5 years. But I know I want to be faithful today with the things he's put in front of me.
So 3 - I'd say maybe try to equalize the amount of time you spend thinking about and investing heart energy into figuring out what God's "Call" on your life is, and balance that with getting to know God and invest in a friendship with him. And see if he doesn't start giving you specific details about the direction he wants your life to take.
#4: What is your most embarrassing moment while in New Zealand? - Kimberly M.
I tend to block out embarrassing moments from my memory, so I'm struggling to think of something off hand, but I can share about a funny moment:
When Mara was born, we were about to start staffing our second DTS. I didn't really think anything of it, since the school started when she was 7 days old, I just began to take her to our morning staff meeting (the DTS staff met from 8-8:30 every morning) and everyone got used to having her around. For awhile, when she was about 2-3 months old, she would consistently poop (loudly) after her morning feeding. I'd usually either nurse her just before we went to staff meeting, or - more often than not - I'd use the staff meeting time to get her breakfast into her.
One day, our DTS director was talking about the schedule for that week, and mentioned someone was coming in to do a guest speaking session one evening. Well, Mara had just finished eating, burping, and just as he shared the guy's name, she squirmed and let out a massive rumble down in the engine room! Our friend Adam was sitting next to me, and he blurted out, "Oh, wow!" And our DTS director was like, "Oh, do you know of him?" And Adam responded, "No, I don't, but the baby just pushed out a major poo!"
#5: Do you like kiwi? - anonymous
Yes! We LOVE kiwi fruit - especially the golden kiwis. They aren't as common outside of New Zealand, but if you get a chance to have one, definitely do it. They're sweeter and their skin isn't fuzzy.
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