Final update from India

Hello Everyone,

We've just spent three amazing weeks in Kolkata working with Life Connections Ministry.  Life Connections focuses on reaching out to street kids who live together at Howrah Train Station.  The kids come into the centre Monday-Thursday and we got the opportunity to feed, teach and play with them. It was so amazing spending time with these increadable boys and sharing God's love with them. During these three weeks we also had the opportunity to work with the Mother Teresa house. The girls worked at the Shanti Dan house with special need girls, helping them colour, play, eat and change. Meanwhile, the boys worked and served the dying at the Nirmal Hriday. Here they fed, shaved and conversed with the men. It was a very challenging and humbling experience that we'll never forget. On our down time, we explored Kolkata's gigantic market and attempted to navigate the packed streets. It's really a beautiful and vibrant city and we feel so blessed to have been given the opportunity to spend some time there. While there, we also got to be apart of the opening of the boys home. Life Connections Ministry had the dream to open this home for quite a while and we're so happy to see the conception actualized. The boys are so happy and excited to be protected and looked after. It was really sad to leave them and the amazing staff. We'll definetly never forget them!\

Now we're fresh off of our first class train from Kolkata. We all had awesome sleeps and are so happy to be here in New Delhi! It's the first day of Debrief and we're enjoying the luxury of having a television! We're pretty excited to go to the Taj mahal and the zoo this week. It's going to be a jam packed week before we fly out to New Zealand in 5 days! 
See you there.

Our last update video:

Prayer Points

- For safe travels home

- For a Holy Spirit led Debrief time

- For a Lice free week

- For some awesome God appointments

Hello Everyone,

We've been having an awesome time in India since I last emailed you all. Our time in Hampi came to an end and we're so happy and grateful for all the opportunities we were given. We met so many awesome people during our time there and we're given so many wonderful opportunies to swim and boulder and sight see along side our new friends.

Towards the end of our time in Hampi we were joined by the Climbers and Nicki! It was so awesome to be reunited with our teammates and it was great to hear all about Queenstown and Argentina! We spent 5ish days with them all at the cafe! It was pretty fun to go climbing with the climbers and see them in their element. We pray that our father will bless them as they take over what we've started!

The past week has been spent in Arambol, Goa. It's a beach town filled with backpackers and we've really enjoyed the change of pace and atmosphere. We spent the first few days reconnecting with eachother, reflecting and refreshing for what is to come. We were also able to meet up with others who share the same interests with us and who are in the same line of work. It was great to expand our community and join in on some meditation. We were also given the oppertunity to serve at a local coffee shop during one of their jam sessions. We attend the same school that the owner did, which is pretty sweet!

We're leaving Arambol today and flying to Calcutta tomorrow. We're sad to leave the people and the BEACHES, but we're excited to see where our Dad leads us next and how we'll be used.

Points

- For continues health and Safety

-For grace and understanding when placed in upsetting situations when volunteering.

- That we would be abel to find a time and a place to rest in Calcutta.

- For the places and people we'll be working with.

Lots of Love from India

New Videoupdate:D 

View from Monkeytempel

Drumcircle in All Tribes

Monkeytempelcrew

Team Rocking Coffeeshop in India

Free Medical Center

Reunion with Climbers and Nicki

Bye Bye Hampi

Silent Moment at the Beach

Sunset in the water

Sunset:D 

Hey Guys

Hello from India!

We’ve been having an awesome time here in Hampi! Our coffee shop has really started to feel like home. Working in this cafe has given us awesome opportunities to meet travellors and locals alike. We’ve been able to share the fathers love and grace with all of our new friends. We’ve heard many times from our customers that there is something different about  our place. They say that the very atmosphere is more relaxed and light. It’s great to hear that God is drawing people in by the atmosphere alone!

We’ve also had some awesome opportunities to speak and hang out with travellers outside of the cafe.  We’ve been bouldering and cliff jumping and swimming with our new friends. We feel so increadibly blessed!

We’ve also had the chance to worship and preach in a few churches. On one occassion we were told to prepare a song and a testimony for an evening service. When we arrived, however, we were told to lead worship for an hour, to preach and to each give our testimonies. We’ve become very good at being put on the spot.

This past weekend, we took the bus to Bellary and were given the opertonity to once again preach and share our testimonies. One of our teammates even led Sunday school (Once again on the spot). The pastor and his family blessed us so much that weekend with their hospitality and kindness. They even blessed us girls with beautiful sari’s and both the gentlemen with traditional tunics! It was such a wonderful surprise!

God has blessed us in so many ways since arriving in Hampi. This will be a time of our lives that we’ll never forget! We’re excited to head to Goa in a week, but we’ll be sad to leave all of our friends and our new home. We’ve had such an increadible , God filled time.

Prayer Points

• The spiritual atmosphere is very heavy here, so please pray against bad dreams and spirtual warefare.
• Please pray for continued good health, protection and safety.
• Opened hearts from all the people we meet

New Video Update:

Triangles

Sunrise Hampi

Kathryn rocks the indianparty

Bellary Family

Vania's birthdayparty in India

team banglor and team new zealand

Cyclingtour

Eric rocks a boulder

Kevin, Christopher and Erik

Vania, Markelle and Ruby

update from hampi...

Hello from Hampi

Whoop we made it to Hampi...

After 5 Days in Mumbai. Preaching in 4 different Churches, having an awesome new year celebration with our team in a church and a 20 hour train ride, we finally made Hampi, which will be our home for the next 4 weeks :)

The train ride was long and hot, but before we knew it we were in Bellary! Pastor Christopher picked us up and graciously took us to his home for a lovely breakfast and lunch! Afterwards he took us to Hampi and to our beautiful cafe!

Hampi is so incredable! There are rice fields everywhere, which makes everything look green and bright! There are also beautiful boulders and palm trees all around the cafe.

There are many tourists in Hampi, which is quite a change from Mumbai where we only crossed paths with locals. The street that the cafe is on is lined with guest houses/hostels, restaurants and locals stands. The cafe is located right in the middle of it all, which will be great for meeting people!

The Cafe is awesome! The walls are open which is great for airflow at night and we have our own cold shower and “Western” toilet without a seat. :) We have a lot of cleaning and preparing to do, but we’re very excited to open in a few days! It will be great to meet some backpackers and have fellowship with them. It’s been wonderful to connect with some of the locals that we will be spending time with over the next month. They’ve been so kind and helpful these last few days.

We opened the café yesterday and we’ve already met some awesome people! We’ve been waking up each morning and starting the day with prayer and worship. Before we open the café at 10 we all complete our work duties (worship duties) and then we open the gates for the guests! Half of the team works in the café in the mornings while the other half works in the afternoons. This gives us awesome opportunities for prayer walks and fellowship with other backpackers. God has really blessed us with an amazing peaceful space!

We all feel very blessed to be in this beautiful country and we’re very excited to begin the next chapter of our adventure!

We hope you’re all doing well! God bless you!

Prayer Points

-  For opening the hearts of the other people and for words of knowledge

-  Against Evil spirits and spiritual warfare
- For health and that we stay healthy


Our Team Video

Blessings,

Team India

Family in Mumbai 

Taxi to Bllary after 20 hour train... 

Train to Bellary 

Our coffeeshop 

whoop 

First Board 

Cleaned Cafe ready to open 

Outreach began...

Hey my lovely friends

For the next 3 months this is gonna be the team blog from team India...

After 5 Days at the awesome Slack`s, where we had a beautiful Christmas time, a lot of fun with paintball and  a lot of prepare time for India, we started our adventure...

On Thursday we went to the airport to get on the plane for 10 hours to Singapore.  With a 2 hour layover we then got on the final plane to Mumbai.  Once we arrived at the airport Daniel and Samuel came to pick us up.  We got to Daniel's house at 3 in the morning.  The next morning we got up at 9 and had our first Indian breakfast of scrambled spicy eggs.  After that we did some shopping for water and culturally appropriate clothes.  We prepared our stuff for the first evening of preaching at a church in the slums.  Kevin was the first to preach and he spoke on forgiveness.  It took an hour and a half to get to this church via train and taxi. During the service our team sat in the front and we sung praise and worship for an hour and then Kevin preached. After the service everyone came up to us to take pictures, shake our hands and see what God tells us about them.  We prayed for healing and to bless them with words of God.  We then went to the pastor's house where they offered us a real Indian dinner.  We later arrived home at 2 and fell fast asleep.  

The next day we did the same, breakfast, shopping and then to a different church in the evening.  At this church Ruby preached about Joy. It was the same as yesterday after the sermon everyone came to us and shook our hands and said `praise the Lord`. After this sermon we went back home and could go a little bit earlier to sleep. 

Today we went in the morning in a church. It was in the St. Augustine High school in a classroom. Today it was Kathryn`s turn. She preached about the authority we have in the name of Jesus. And how we can bring pieces of heaven down to earth by praying for healing and against evil thoughts.

We have been so blessed with wonderful food and a loving host family. The wonderful people that we have met have taught us so much about true generosity  They feed us their best food even when they don't have any for themselves. 

We all sleep on the concrete floor of a small room and share a "toilet" with 14 people. The water from the taps is only available in the morning for an hour, so the family collects it for the day in large tubs. Although they have so little they take such pride in their home and work together as a family to make it a clean and welcoming environment. 

Tomorrow we'll be heading to Bellary to meet Pastor Christopher. The train leaves at 2am on the first and will take 20 hours. It's going to be a wild experience. 

Thank you all so much for praying for us. We can truly feel God's presence around us, filling us up and overflowing form us. We are so thankful for all the opportunities we've been given and we hope to continue being a light to those around us. 

Happy New Year

Prayer Points

• For good health for our team. (Especially Kathryn and Vania's cold.)
• That we can become even more united as a team/ family.
• That the families who've blessed us will be blessed ten fold. 
• For protection on the train to Bellary

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Hey Guys

It's here the 25th in the morning. I'm sitting beside our christmas tree and think on all you guys.
The last few weeks were so intensive for me.

After the faith weekend we had two speakers named Adam and Ryan. They are so connected with our father. The topical was Identity and original Design. Everyday they took a few person's and asked God for his original Design for them. Over me they got some Picture's. One of them was he saw a brass band and they saw me in the horn section but I wasn't playing I was giggling and talk to other people. He said I'm gonna be the one who is bringing joy every where I go. And that I am a leader.
This Week was so intense.

Then on the Weekend we went to Castle hill. It's so beautiful there. And we made an cave stream. That was so awesome. We were in a cave for 45 minutes and walked the whole time in a river. The water was on the highest point was to the shoulder. It was so cool.

For our last week we moved in to the High street house. And there we had Kirsten. He's so on fire for jesus. And it was so an good week. At the end we had to prepare an 5 minute servant. Really challenging but a good experience.

And then the lecture phase was finished and we had to say good bye to our awesome new friends. It was so hard but I'm so super pumped for Outreach. Our team went to Christchurch to John and Mari Slack. We celebrate our Christchurch there and made a treasure hunt. We prepare us now for India.
Today we gonna met Team Australia and celebrate with them Christmas ond the Beach. It's so different  celebrate christmas in short's and shirt.  So I wish you an awesome Christmas time and a happy new Year.

personal prayer Points:

• Power for outreach
• Anointing my hands for gift of healing
• That God shows me what i should preach in the church in India
• For more filling with the Holy Spirit 

Prayer points team:

• No culture shock
• Safety journey
• Healthy for the whole team
• Open Hearts for all the people we are gonna meet

• 
  

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. 

First picture:D

First Family Boere

Beach in Fox Glacier

View direction east

View direction west

Best Nachos ever with Team

Lodge for the second night

Fox glacier in the right the rainforest

speechless

Swing bridge:D

Rainforest

Feast of meat

Last night with kevin ( in the right)

Best place to get a picked up:D

Lake tekapo and Mt. Cook in the back

Our route