Well folks...the word is officially in!
Last night, our Pacific DTS group received the official announcement of where we will be going for our short and long outreaches. Are you ready?! Here we go...
For our first outreach, taking place in 5 weeks, our group will be going up into the indigenous communities in the Mount Isa region, which is a town here in Australia. Some of our leaders have begun to build relationships with people in this community, and we will be continuing to build that.
Our long outreach will be taking place in... (DRUM ROLL, PLEASE!)
NEW ZEALAND!!!
Yea!!!! So...We will flying into Auckland, New Zealand, and then driving south to do outreach to a town called Wanganui (Won-gah-noo-ee). This town has a large community of islanders, those being from the Fijian (Fee-Jee-an) and Maori (Mow-ree) communities.
The most exciting part about this outreach is that 4 of the people in our group are either from NZ, or have already begun to build relationships and even have family in these island communities. Selena, a staff leader, is from New Zealand and a part of the Maori tribe. Eunice has some family in NZ. Andrew, a fellow student, is also from New Zealand, and has family and connections back home. Mena, one of our other staff leaders, is Fijian, and has also built some solid relationships with the people in these communities.
One thing that I'm learning about the island cultures is that family is of highest importance and value to them. "Wha nau" (Faw-no) is the Maori word for "family", and since we have people in our school that are part of the families we will be reaching out to, we will automatically be welcomed into their families. To hear the hearts of our staff and how long they have been praying for direction about outreach, it's nothing short of exciting and overwhelming, as this is also a pioneer DTS (The first outreach and DTS with this focus.)
I find it soooo incredibly hard to put into words how my heart has just been overflowing with joy and peace that I have in being here right now, and in all that God is doing in my life, plus being a part of all he desires to see changed in this world. Even though there is so much joy and peace, my heart feels so burdened for the needs of the islanders, as I learn more about the brokenness and attack of their cultures that has taken place over the years. There is so much restoration that God wants to see in their lives and in their nations. From what the leaders have shared, it's my understanding that there is deep sadness, loss of hope, and even a level of shame for the culture that they are a part of.
It is our hope, as a school, that we can be catalysts of change for them. That they can see that not only islanders have come together to come share about the hope of Jesus, but that also there are people from Australia, the USA, and Korea, that came all of this way, just so we can speak of God's love for them and that God has amazing purposes for them. I have no doubt in my mind that God has each student and staff in this school for a reason. I'm so grateful that God is allowing us to partner with him in helping bring about tangible change in the world.
There is so much more that I want to share, but again, like I said, it's so hard to put into words how my heart is overjoyed but also burdened for seeing change.
For all of you back home in the US, I'm thinking of you and praying for you. Please remember us in prayer as we prepare for the mission that God has before us.
I still have quite a need for financial support, so I ask you to consider how you might be able to partner with me in this journey. To make a donation, you can do so by clicking on this link:
Donate Online
Enamorado,
Abbs
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