Kevin's Adventure in New Zealand: Faith-weekend with Candice, Jenna and myself

Hey Guys

This blog was written by Candice, Jenna and Kevin...

Luke 10:1-12

Luke 10 weekend is one weekend out of DTS where we are sent out with $10 each, an emergency phone card and lots of faith. On Wednesday we got together as groups, our group was Candice, Jenna and Kevin, and we prayed about where God wanted us to go. We prayed and Kevin got a "W", Jenna got an arrow swooping West, and Candice got an image of a wave. And so we came to the conclusion that He wanted us to go West.
We expected to sleep in a field and eat very little, but we recently learned that if we pray for specific things, God will provide it. As a group we decided to pray for specific things we wanted God to provide, so we prayed for a meat dinner, to see mt. Cook, and that we would be able to bless a lot of people.
On Thursday, we started hitchhiking at two P.M. We were dropped outside of town where we prayed for a ride. We waited for about twenty minutes and got a ride from a local farmer to Springfield. From Springfield, we were picked up by man named Mark Boere who is the area commander for the New Zealand west coast fire services. Mark was going to Greymouth so we decided to go with him. We told him our story on the way and he invited us to stay at his house with his family. That night we had a delicious meal with his family of ham and quiche and got to go to a christmas program with his family.
The next morning we helped him prepare meals for next week, did laundry, and cleaned the kid's room. In the afternoon, we felt like we should move on so we said our goodbyes and left for the south. We got several rides and ended up in Fox Glacier. Our last ride to Fox Glacier was with a guy named Tim. Tim is a glacier guide on the Fox Glacier. He is a christian and he is awesome. We told him where we came from and that we were on faith weekend. He offered us free tickets for any tour on the glacier on the following day. He also lined us up with a place to stay in a beautiful lodge, brought us to his house for a nachos and meat sauce, and took us to the beach.
The next morning we went to the Fox Glacier tour building. We asked if there were any openings for either the half-day glacier tour, the full-day glacier tour, or the helicopter hike. Low and behold, there were three open spaces for the heli-hike! We were so excited! As Kevin says, "we were freaking so out!" We all immediately thought that we were going to have the best story out of all of the groups.
We got on the heliport and were ready to get a briefing for the helicopter ride when we were told that one woman backed out of her ride. Since it takes four people to fill up a helicopter we couldn't go because she would pay for the helicopter. We were devastated!
Instead, we got up to the glacier and walked around it. We stood in awe of the majestic beauty that God created wondering why the plans fell through. On the walk back through the rainforest we asked God why that happened and got the same answer. We would have use the story to brag about our weekend and have the best story out of all the groups. It hit us that we were so prideful. We forgot that the weekend is not about having the biggest story, but about showing God's glory and his faithfulness.
So, we ended up back at the cafe in Fox and enjoyed a nice cup of coffee that we bought using the money that a Swiss lady gave us at the glacier. Kevin had just started writing "Wanaka" on our cardboard sign and before he could finish writing the "k" a man named Kevin asked us if we wanted a ride with him to Queenstown after we we're done our coffees. We drove with him in his deliver truck and told him our story, and he ended up inviting us to stay at his little cabin in beautiful Queenstown. There we had the best bbq ever and spent some time with Kevin as he showed us Queenstown by night and where the best ice-cream place is. After we went back and before bed we stuffed ourself more with a piece of custard log, which was so good!
In the morning he dropped us off at the best hitchhiking spot in Queenstown, from where we were picked up by four different rides and ended up back home in Oxford in 10 hours.

Answered Prayers:

At the beginning we prayed for one meat dinner, to see Mt. Cook, and to be able to bless the people we meet.

We ended up eating meat dinners every night.
Travelling 1285km around Mt. Cook, being able to see it from every angle.
We were able to help and bless people with gifts, time, and service.

What God Showed Us:

That our adventure was not about having a crazy story to tell people, but rather about how awesome God is and how he provides for us.
That before settlers came to New Zealand there were no land mammals, only birds.
There is no nuclear power in New Zealand and any ships that have nuclear power on board are not allowed to dock.
That Fox glacier is one of only two glaciers in the world that are in a rainforest (and the other is in Patagonia).
That He is so awesome!

Prayer Points:

For the people that we met, that they would have more encounters with Christian people and see how good God is.
For safety and open hearts for the Justice school who leave this Saturday for outreach.
For our last two weeks to learn and prepare for outreach, and that we can have peace and enjoy our last few weeks on the base.