A Year to be Thankful for!!

In the finishing minutes of my time as a 19 year old I thought I would take a little time to reflect on this past year on some of what's taken place.....let's recap shall we?

1) door to college...slammed shut
2) went to New Zealand to do a DTS (scared out of my mind nonetheless)
3) went to Thailand for outreach (met amazing people)
4) was broken for injustice in this world...especially sex trafficking
5) got to come home for Christmas
6) got to go back to New Zealand to staff (scared out of my mind again...only for a different reason this time)
7) got to go to Brazil on outreach (met more amazing people)
8) found a new home in New Zealand
9) found new family in New Zealand
10) made more life long friendships (and kept the ones i already had)
11) learned ALOT of life lessons...and GREW a ton in my walk with Jesus
12) came home
13) brother got married
14) best friend got married
15) got a job
16) went on family vacation
17).....????

.....that's it in a very tiny tiny nutshell....and I can't express in words how grateful I am for this year....this unexpected year of my life. A lot of times we walk in this feeling of unknowingness..like we can't see three feet in front of us...I know I'm there now...and a year ago I was in the same place...and God did this amazing thing....he gave me this amazing year that changed me forever. It broke me and transformed me...molded me and stretched me...it opened my eyes to things I had never seen before. It was totally unplanned in no way expected and yet it was so EPIC. I am so thankful to the Lord for this year and everything he has done. And I'm thankful to my family and my friends here at home who I love and cherish deeply and who stood by me and supported me and prayed for me....honestly I was terrible at communicating...but I always knew they were here for me...I am truly blessed by you guys and I can't begin to explain how much I appreciate you all...and I'm so thankful for the new friends and family I made in New Zealand...you all were my encouragement when I needed it and you've prayed for me and supported me as well in so many ways. I'm so blessed to know you all. And this post may seem a bit odd...but its just meant as a HUGE thank you to God and to you all for everything you've done. This year has been so incredible and I'm looking forward to seeing what God has next. I hope you have a blessed day, and remember faith is believing what we can't see. God does have a plan..and whether we like it or not his plan is WAY better than ours....He's a good God who gives good gifts.

A Different Kind of Injustice

Injustice is not just a homeless man on the street, a child stuck in prostitution, a kid living on the street..etc etc (there’s heaps of them) I would challenge to say that we often forget one of the biggest injustices in the world, that we, as Christians, are constantly a part of, and that is this: We as Christians when we live luke warm sunday Christianity we are holding back the hope, life, light, and eternity that we carry in the name of Jesus Christ. When we are unwilling to live out our faith in every aspect of our lives unafraid of humiliation we are holding back what we have been entrusted to give out, and that’s the love, grace, peace, boldness, forgiveness, etc of Jesus Christ. 

In my opinion that is one of the least addressed yet biggest injustices in this world today..and I am more than willing to say I’m a part of this...I’ve ignored God when I’ve felt like I was supposed to pray for someone, gotten angry instead of being patient, lashed out instead of holding my tongue, been selfish instead of preferring another..and so the list could go on. James writes in James 1:27 “Pure and genuine religion the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.” Now stay with me on this one, yes this verse is talking literally about the orphans and widows in the world, but what if there’s more to it than that? What if orphan is referring to people who are carrying around an orphan spirit? What if widow is referring to the people who have separated themselves from the Pure Bride which is Jesus? In that case this verse’s spectrum of people that we are supposed to care for just got a whole lot bigger! Maybe you’ve thought about this and I’m just way behind on it, maybe it doesn’t make any sense to you at all, maybe it does make sense, who knows..pray about it and chew it over with God. 

I challenge you to ask God if you have been a part of this injustice...and if he says no good on ya keep going! But if he says yes ask Him how to change it...ask Him to give you the grace you need and the boldness you need to change and to do something. God has made us all to love our brothers and sisters, those that know him and those that don’t. I think it’s time for us all, myself included, to check our hearts and see how we are doing, how are we helping bring true justice (in this form and others) to the world. Blessings on your day.

"What you don't know can't hurt you"

"What you don't know can't hurt you"....how many times have we all heard that phrase or even said it...I know it's come out of my mouth before. I looked up the meaning of it by definition and it says this: "If you do not know about a problem or a misdeed, you will not be able to make yourself unhappy by worrying about it". I don't know about you but that doesn't sound too bad to me...less things on my plate less worries less stress less pain...ya know all the junk we don't like. Now the reason I'm going on about this is because we just watched a movie on sex trafficking tonight and have just returned from spending a week in a favela (large slum) here in Rio and as I was thinking about things this phrase popped into my head...and I just began to think about how easy that mentality is to have and how normal it is....whether we actually vocally say the phrase out loud or we live it...it's definitely evident. (myself included) But I would like to tweak it a little bit and say "what you don't know CAN hurt you" especially as the body of Christ. I will be the first to say I suck at knowing at what is happening in the world and being aware of what's going on in different nations and I really need to work on changing it. Because as I was thinking about this saying and thinking about this past week....I had this realization that as the body of Christ we are called to stand up for orphan and widowed, to be fathers to the fatherless, to pray for those in need, to intercede for our brothers and sisters...and how the heck can we do that if we have a mindset that is afraid of what we might find or be exposed to...or we think we can't handle what's happening in the world today....I/we need a wake up call...heck yea WE can't handle what's happening in the world today...but JESUS can...and He lives inside of us and when we depend on him and when He is our strength and he remains our focus we can take new perspective an ETERNAL perspective on the challenges and crap that is happening in our world today. I can tell you that I just spent a week in a favela..where seeing men carrying around machine guns, rifles, or pistols is normal...drug trafficking is a finely tuned well oiled and organized machine....boys at age 10 start getting into drug trafficking...girls as young as 12 start having kids...shootings/killings occur...drug lords run the show...people lose their hands for stealing things....and other things as well...but with all that said there's so much Jesus in that place it's amazing. Jesus is in the people and how loving and friendly they are and He is also doing an awesome work with YWAM and the churches there in reaching out to all people in the community. But with all that said I never could have known or been able to pray into these things without wanting to know and without searching it out and asking questions. (yes i get it i'm in the country on an outreach it's different) but still if we are afraid to learn and know about the dark and deep issues in today's world then how the heck are we supposed to help in bringing the light of Jesus there. I'm not saying be dumb and overwhelm yourself and take on a load you can't handle (you know your limits) but I'm challenging all of us to put aside our mentality of what is in front of us is the world and that's it and that's all we need to know because there's so much more. And there's so much each of us can do..we can advocate or give to an organization...we can PRAY which is huge and not to be underestimated...and other things as well...we can get creative who knows. But I just want to challenge you to go beyond the daily local news or the five minutes of global news...and actually get in to what's really going on in the world today and when you do ask Jesus for His perspective on things because he is all the hope there is...he is the light amongst the darkness...the life amongst death..the joy amongst sorrow...the peace in chaos....the justice in corruptness....the love in hatred....the forgiveness in judgement...the mercy in anger....and so so much more...and we need to know that and we need to believe that so that we can stand and do something.
ok that's my little rant...so thanks for reading...stories about our time will come soon...blessings on your day

Oi from Brazil!!

Oi (hello) from Belo!! We've been here in Brazil for almost two weeks already! (this saturday marks it..so crazy) But our time here in Belo Horizonte has been absolutely amazing so far!! God has been so good and we have heard so many stories of different kids, along with cool testimonies of God's redemption in people's live here.
We have been working with YWAM Belo and it has been absolutely amazing! God has so had his hand on this ministry. They run 9 different houses each one specific to something different than the others and all located in different places. We are staying at what's called the Rescue House, who works mainly with street kids. So that's what we have spent a lot of our time doing. We have gone to a detention center and ran programs there with dramas, testimonies, and worship. Gone out onto the streets multiple times at night and just hung out with the kids in a park area and played cards or jumped rope or hung out. And when we aren't doing that we have been visiting the different houses and ministries they have here. We've had the opportunity to walk through a favela (slum) here and pray over areas and for people and watch as Edwardo and his wife (who run that particular ministry) go out and just love on the people. It's so amazing the way that in all of these ministries a relationship with the community has been built and even though the kids are drug traffickers or have killed people or are addicted there's a love and respect that's been built and God has so just blessed it and put his hand upon this place. He's really doing something amazing here with these people.

Just a sweet quick story of His glory for you guys...yesterday we were doing intercession in the morning with the staff here (who is phenomenal by the way..so amazing everyone of them!!) and they were telling us how on Monday they felt like God wanted them to go into the old woman's house next door and worship and pray in her home. (now something you need to know about this woman...she has dementia and gets screaming fits sometimes even if it's the middle of the night...so she's been having a hard time for a while now) So they start doing announcements right and all of a sudden someone is banging on the door...so a guy here goes and checks it out and he's oh it's just the neighbor...and comes back..so then Debbie another staff member goes out and sees what's up..and turns out she was wondering around and she had her bags packed and was gonna try and go travel somewhere or something like that...so she brought her inside...and we got to worship over her and pray for her..and then someone asked if we could worship in her home and stuff...and she was totally game so we got to go over and worship and pray in her house...and totally just let God bless it and invite Him in even more and just go for it! It was so cool! God is so cool! So yeah there's one quick story...God's just been doing awesome things. He's pretty amazing if you ask me.

Anyways continue to pray for our time here that God would really just show us how to serve and love in the way that is best for this place and these people and these ministries. Also be praying for energy and just refreshment everyday as we are going out. And please pray for this ministry, the staff, this city, and these kids as God is doing something big here and his love is being poured out. There's so much need for renewed mindsets and motivation to get off the streets and stop using drugs. So please be praying for them. Hope you have a great day...blessings!!

Good-byes, Preparation, and Packing....

FIVE DAYS!!! The craziness of outreach has pretty much slapped us all in the face at this point...we are sending out our first team to the Philippines and Thailand tonight (or tomorrow morning which ever you prefer) at 2 am. Then the rest of us will be chilling here packing, praying, preparing, and all that jazz for the next 4 days until we pack up the vans and leave on Saturday! I think I can honestly say that the reality that I'm going to be in Brazil in a very short amount of time with eight other people is slowly, but surely setting in...and I am growing more and more excited! Being honest leading up to this point outreach has been such a surreal thing and honestly my excitement level was quite sad. But God is good and gracious and as the time draws near I'm getting super stoked....and I think it's because Jesus gave me this realization or feeling in my spirit that outreach is such an amazing thing because it's all him....literally it's ALL him the love the outpouring, the miracles, the conversations, the heart changes, EVERYTHING is Him! We literally don't have to try or do anything because when we're available to the Holy Spirit he just takes it away and goes for it....and it's the best thing in the world because in our humanism we can't fulfill or fix or do anything, but Jesus he can...he SO can and it's amazing. So I was really stoked about that feeling and know it's still going to be such a challenge and there will be opposition, but it's gonna be so great. God's gonna be so great!! Pray for us as we all pack and prepare this week and as our first team leaves!! Blessings!! Have a great day!! :D

Donation Update...

So due to circumstances that I'm still learning about haha and didn't really know about my google account has been ceased....so therefore the donate button and is gone and that's no longer an option...sad day i know haha. Sorry for the confusion and advertising it on everything...my bad....

The Countdown Begins...

Hello again! So I just spent the weekend in the south island with a great friend of mine...the trip was way to short but so flipping good....seeing some pretty sweet scenery and beaches, the cleanest fresh water spring in the world (drank out of it...shhh), drove, laughed, went to church, ate....and just sowed into each other...it was so great! So big thanks to the Lord for that blessing and my parents for being the vessel for that blessing!! 

So TWO weeks is what we have left of our lectures. We've got kind of a jumbled week this week of who God is..talking about his Majesty and Glory (which was today) and then I actually don't know what other people are going to be talking about haha. It's just gonna be a week where the Holy Spirit kind of just lays things on peoples hearts and God has a chance to speak through people. I know Thursday is a day for us staff members to speak if we want to...so we'll see about that one. It'll be great. Then next week we have a man named Doug Sparks coming to speak and that will wrap up all our speakers. Then we've got one week of lecture debrief/outreach prep and we're off! We are at 19 days until we take off! It's so crazy! Which means please be praying our team is still way short on money (there's at least 4 of us, myself included who still need a large sum of money..like 3,000 each) So please be standing and praying the funds in with us, or giving if you feel prompted (I know I've said it before, sorry). And you can also just be praying for good communication and clarity between us and the people in Brazil, it's been hard getting through and getting details, so that would be great as well!! Thanks and blessings on your day!!!

VIVA BRAZIL!

OUTREACH!!!

Hey everyone! Ok sorry our internet at base seems to be crap most of the time so I'm thankful that I can get this out!!! But I would like to announce (with excitement!) our outreach location...dun dun duh.....BRAZIL!! :D I'm super stoked if you can't tell!! We have eight people total on our team 3 leaders and 5 students! The other half of our Justice school is going to Cambodia...our Compassion school is going to Thailand and the Philippines...and our Medical school is going to Fiji and Papua New Guinea! So that's all the locations...
But in Brazil we are planning on visiting 3 different cities..Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, and Brazillia. In Rio we are planning on working in the fevela (slums), in Belo we are going to be working with the YWAM base there working with sex trafficking and street kids. The base in Belo has a bunch of different Restoration Homes for kids with HIV/AIDS or girls at risk or a rehab house, etc (things like that), and then in Brazillia we will be working with the YWAM base there who work alongside an Indian tribe that are currently in the process of trying to pass a law prohibiting the practice of infanticide (or burying of children alive) which is one of the tribes common practices...so while we are there we will be mainly doing manuel labor I think (not 100% sure yet)...and if you want to know more about the tribe google HAKANI and it will explain everything really well. It's her story that has started this entire process of beginning to fight this practice....so that's an overview we are just at the beginning stages so things could be changing if God says something or doors get shut but currently that's what's up.
Life in general has been really good...very very busy but so awesome. God's been really faithful and really gracious. I had the opportunity to teach last week Thursday and Friday during our Justice stream on the topic of Child Soldiers..introducing organizations like Invisible Children and WATOTO and showing some videos. So that was really fun and an awesome experience because I got to share a little bit of my heart and my passion for those kids. So things have been going well. We just finished our Cultural week which was really fun we all had the opportunity to stay on a Maori (the indigenous people here) Marae (their little compound thing) and learn more about their culture...as well as learning about Fiji, the Philippines, and Brazil...oh and we had a guest speaker talk about Redeeming Cultures and that was So awesome! But I don't have time to tell you anymore than that.
Ok that's a little bit of an update I'll try and get out more stories and different things later...but I would like to ask you to prayerfully consider supporting me in this moment...it's kind of painful for me to say this, but I need your help. I have to pay for $140 visa app, a shot (don't know the cost), and outreach which will roughly be around $3,500-4,000 so don't feel pressured to give but please pray because it is a definite need and I'm trusting the Lord for it. (if you do want to give you can hit the donate button on my blog, or mail a check to 1115 220th street pella iowa 50219 with Hali Steenhoek on it...and if you have questions feel free to email me at ladydutch_7@hotmail.com)

Thanks so much...you guys are awesome and I greatly appreciate you reading this and lifting me up in prayer. Blessings to you all!!

Hello Again!

Hey guys!! Sorry it's been such a long time since my last update....life has been pretty crazy around here the past two and a half weeks or so....so let me catch you up!!
The students have just completed their first week and second weeks of lecture phase (Father Heart of God and Hearing God's Voice) and are just beginning their third week (Holy Spirit) tomorrow! These first few weeks have been super amazing, God has been doing so much in the students lives already! Beginning the healing process, starting to break off chains, and totally just doing his thing...so it's been amazing to be a part of and walk alongside them in this journey.

We've started our adventure in doing one on ones and small group stuff and that has been going well! It's definitely been an opportunity for me to step outside of my comfort zone and God's been gracious in the way he's been leading me to lead them.

It's definitely been a learning/interesting ride so far. Being so fresh off a being student has been a really big adjustment because the whole dynamic of staff and student is totally different...obviously....but it's been great. God's began this journey of instilling within me confidence in the voice he's given me as well as finding the line of humility to go along with it because I'm blessed to have crazy amazing leadership who have a ton of experience and God's put an anointing on and I need to learn from them...but not to be afraid to speak up as well...those of you who know know that can be an issue at times, but we're working on it.

I had the privilege last week to MC for our speaker, and even little things like that God's been using to push me and be like I don't know what you're so freaked out by....we can do this, I'm helping you out even in this little stuff..so it was actually really good for me because by the end of the week I started to be ok with standing in front of people haha...God's good ya know...and so gracious. :)

Ok so a few random updates....we do know our outreach locations!! (yay!!!) but I can't actually tell you all until all the students know where they are going...they are praying about it this week..so I'll announce that at the end of this week, but that's definitely something you guys can be praying into for the students..it's always an interesting journey praying through outreach locations or for our school we've given our students two words (Sandal and Jandal) and each one represents a country and they have to hear God for which word....so be praying for them in hearing God's voice!

And the last update thing (and this isn't really relevant except to me because I'm really excited about it) This weekend I get to see two awesome friends of mine who are coming down (and up) to visit and I would just like to say A) thank you Lord because it's gonna be so awesome to catch up and B) I'm super excited!!

So yeah sorry...that was kinda everywhere, next time I'll try to be more organized but that's what's up for now..oh wait some prayer requests
-Finances
-Super Natural Energy (we have a crazy busy schedule so this is important)
-Continued God given wisdom and discernment
Yeah now that's it..thanks so much for hanging in there and reading this...have a blessed day! :)

Training Complete....

So for about the last week and a half we have been going through training as a staff....and it has been awesome! The first few days we did the Strength Finders test and we each found out our top five strengths and then we had a one on one session with a "coach" who took us more in depth into the meaning of the strengths and what they look like for us personally. (life application, in relationships, etc) And then we also looked at the strengths that we would clash with and talked about how to deal with each and ways we could work things out and compromise. It was a really cool experience finding things out in yourself that you didn't necessarily know was a strength and learning about why people are the way they are...it was cool ya know. Then the rest of the week (and some) was going through our staff "manuel" and just talking about and learning about what it means to be a leader and to be someone who disciples people and to walk in humility and to be the servant leader was and really model the way Jesus lead his disciples. So it's been an amazing week of learning a lot of different things and praying for the students.
One of the things that God is constantly been pounding into my head this past week and a half is that it's all on Him ya know....I'm a vessel for Him and He's the one who provides the words, the scriptures, the visions, the prayers...everything it's all Him...there's no pressure because although I may be inadequate as a leader in my flesh, I have the Holy Spirit living inside me....I have God talking to me.....I may be inadequate but He who is in me is MORE THAN adequate.....this is not to say I won't muck up because I will and praise the Lord he's so gracious.....but this is just one more opportunity to depend upon wholeheartedly and trust God. Because this time is about the students and their journey with the Lord...and God will move and have his way with them, and I can choose to be a part of it or I can choose to be proud (and let me tell you that would suck)...so I'm choosing to trust, even when I don't want to or feel like, because let's be honest guys His thoughts are higher than my thoughts and His ways are higher than my ways....it's the truth....so that's a little bit of what God has been trying to pound into me...it's good. 
Please be praying for our students as they have begun to arrive now and the school is officially starting on Monday, we as a staff are definitely expecting big things! And pray for us as staff as well in balancing our time and just being those vessels we are called to be at this time! 

Back Again!

HELLO from New Zealand again...after about 30 hours of traveling I have safely arrived back in Tauranga....it’s nice to be back.

Alright let me give you a quick rundown on what these next 10 days look like (at least what I know so far). This time is all specifically dedicated to staff training, before students begin arriving on the 14th. So basically what we’ll be doing is meeting in the mornings and possibly some afternoons....talking through legistical stuff, doing strength finders, and honestly I don’t really know what else. And then we will be doing set up and prep work for the arrival of the students....and that’s it...pretty general I know sorry about that haha, but that’s kinda all I know right now. 

As far as students go we have 26 possibly 27 students...18 (or 19) girls and 8 guys. And we have 8 staff members and 3 school leaders. So it’s gonna be a packed house, but it’s gonna be good. I have a feeling this is going to be one of the hardest most humbling yet awesome experiences in my life thus far, but I know God’s gonna do crazy things with these students and in these students so although at this point I’m nervous I’m stoked to see God’s hand at work.

If you would like be praying for the students just in preparation and the staff as well as we are preparing for them to arrive. Thanks so much...there will be more to come...blessings!!

Back Again!

HELLO from New Zealand again...after about 30 hours of traveling I have safely arrived back in Tauranga....it’s nice to be back.

Alright let me give you a quick rundown on what these next 10 days look like (at least what I know so far). This time is all specifically dedicated to staff training, before students begin arriving on the 14th. So basically what we’ll be doing is meeting in the mornings and possibly some afternoons....talking through legistical stuff, doing strength finders, and honestly I don’t really know what else. And then we will be doing set up and prep work for the arrival of the students....and that’s it...pretty general I know sorry about that haha, but that’s kinda all I know right now. 

As far as students go we have 26 possibly 27 students...18 (or 19) girls and 8 guys. And we have 8 staff members and 3 school leaders. So it’s gonna be a packed house, but it’s gonna be good. I have a feeling this is going to be one of the hardest most humbling yet awesome experiences in my life thus far, but I know God’s gonna do crazy things with these students and in these students so although at this point I’m nervous I’m stoked to see God’s hand at work.

If you would like be praying for the students just in preparation and the staff as well as we are preparing for them to arrive. Thanks so much...there will be more to come...blessings!!