2023 - getting rooted

This last year, God rooted me in California with a great team of financial and prayer supporters, for which I am so grateful every day. The Lord rooted me in the Bible and with an international community while I was in Norway. He continues to grow me in New Zealand as I evangelize and disciple in Whangarei. 

I started off the first quarter of the year volunteering at South Shores Church in California. I helped the communications team as they planned their new website and social media and helped in the kids' ministry. I worked with two other young adults in the office (Kristian and Jillian) to get the church's young adult ministry growing and fruitful by doing outreach to Saddleback College. Kristian and Jillian have done a fantastic job developing and stewarding the group after I left for Norway. It is now a thriving group with 40+ young people being discipled every week, and they are still doing outreaches regularly.

I was in Norway for the second quarter of the year, where I attended a bible school with YWAM called Bible Core Course. During this school, I read through the Bible, studied and received lectures about a different Bible book each week, and was taught how to study inductively. The inductive method is to learn using the context and information given to us first, from the book itself, secondly from other books of the Bible, and lastly, from external sources. My time in Norway gave me the confidence to navigate the Bible and answer difficult questions. I am continually growing in my understanding of the Bible, and I will continue to learn more each year so that I may "walk out my calling with fear and trembling" and disciple others into the knowledge of our beloved Savior, Jesus Christ.

I landed in New Zealand in July, where I will be staffing with a YWAM base till the summer of 2025 or longer. Starting here, I had many different ministry pursuits. I helped my YWAM base move from a small rural town to a coastal city with more evangelistic opportunities and non-profits for us to work with in sharing the love of Christ. However, my primary ministry with YWAM is discipling the next generation of missionaries through our Discipleship Training School.

During the third and fourth quarters of the year, my base held a staff internship where our small crew was discipled and taught more about our requirements as DTS staff. This internship included lectures, evangelism, reading books, intercession, and worship. As some of you know, the training finished with a two-week outreach to Fiji, where we saw God move in incredible ways with healing, evangelism, and preaching.

I have seen so many people come to the Lord this year and grow closer to Him, and I am so thankful for His mercy and grace. I fall more in love with God daily and am excited about His plans for this coming year.

None of this could have been possible without the faithful prayer and financial support of those who are on my team.