Kids on Outreach

Hello everyone!  We are finally over jet lag and are settling back into "normal" life for at least few months before our next adventure!  Now that we are sleeping at normal hours, we have been able to get around a visit with friends and family and get back to our home church in Ephrata.  As we meet old and new friends, we get to share a lot about what we did with YWAM during our school in New Zealand and outreach in Australia. One of the most common questions we get is about what all of the children did while the parents were in school or involved in ministry.  In this post we'll highlight their involvement and provide some pictures and videos to so that you can share in the experience.

DTS Lecture Phase (located on the YWAM base in Matamata, New Zealand)

While in New Zealand, our main focus was attending daily lectures, participating in corporate worship and prayer and other community events and serving in practical ways around the base.  While we were in lectures, Bente, Ascher and Soren were homeschooling with the other kids on the base in a classroom that was monitored by one of the full time missionaries on the base. Mala spent her school time in the "creche" which is the term for nursery school in New Zealand, where she made quick friends with the teacher there, Niede.


There were lots of other kids in the homeschool, so everyone made lots of friends and had a lot of fun running around the playground and fields around the base.  On some weekends they had games or other events for the base, like one week we all participated in the Family Olympics! The kids had a lot of opportunities to express their creativity. They developed a passion for Risk and have always liked the Chronicles of Narnia, so why not make a Narnia version of Risk? Some of the older girls got together and organized a drama class that they ran on the weekends and performed one of their dramas at our graduation dinner.  

The kids also received some formal training while they were on the base.  From time to time the speakers that were teaching our lectures would spend time with the children.  For instance, we had a entire week on "hearing God" and our speaker, Cheyne, spent time with the children teaching them the principles of how to listen to God's voice and even had some practical application in praying blessings over each other!  On the last week of school we had a special treat in that a YWAM team from the Kings Kids base on the South Island came and taught the children a series of dramas that they could perform on outreach.  They were taught to pray before every performance and use their talents to bless others and open doors for the gospel.  Here is a link to one of their practice performances that they did on the base, this one features all of the children that participated.

In addition to learning and community life on the base, the girls had lots of opportunities to experience the culture and sights of New Zealand.  Each week we had trips into town and several sight seeing tours in nearby areas, including visiting Tauranga, a city with great beaches and mountain views, Hamilton Gardens and Hobbiton, where Amy and Ascher toured the movie set of the Shire, a scene used in the Lord of the Rings series and most recently The Hobbit.

DTS Outreach Phase (located on the YWAM base in Adelaide, Australia)
Our girls were very excited to visit Australia.  They had made a lot of friends in New Zealand, but they were looking forward to warmer weather and the chance to meet some koalas and kangaroos!  Some of their friends came along too, as we traveled with five families, made up of 9 adults and 14 children.  We stayed in a large house that was once used as an orphanage and then a governors mansion.  The kids loved being able to run around the large house and play together, which at first caused quite a stir in the base!

As part of our outreach, we tried to share God's love with the people in Adelaide through simple acts of kindness.  These proved to be great opportunities to involve the kids in things like handing out free waters, giving out flowers, picking up rubbish at local parks and sharing free ice pops to the kids after school.  In each case, the kids had a lot of excitement and showed a genuine interest in helping people.  Many times they displayed unusual boldness in approaching strangers, offering a free gift and even praying with many.


In addition to serving on the streets, we did a lot of practical service on the YWAM base, at churches and in the community.  The children all participated in various ways to help maintain the base property and jumped in to help with several of the projects we did in the local community and at a local church.  They also had the opportunity to perform their dramas at one of the local churches we served.

One of the highlights of our time in Australia was the performance that the children put on for the service that we did for the crowd at the Salvation Army one Saturday night.  Our girls were part of the team that did two different drama performances and Ascher even gave a personal testimony in front of the crowd!  There was a lot of interest in the performance as they don't usually have any live entertainment at the shelter - there over 50 guests in attendance and the the staff said it was the best service they had!

We did a bit of sightseeing in Adelaide as well.  The girls visited the Adelaide Zoo and a Wildlife Reserve, where they got to see lots of animals and even petted kangaroos!  We visited the oldest German settlement in Australia, called Hahndorf, which ended with an full course German meal.  We frequented several beautiful beaches and spent lots of time in the city of Adelaide, where one of our favorite stops was the local "Hungry Jacks" which had soft serve ice cream for just 50 cents!   On the last week we had a community outing at a wonderful (and free) play park where they had amazing rides and activities.