One of our favorite memories of our time in Australia is of the various people we met and the things we witnessed God doing in their lives during street ministry in the city of Adelaide. Our approach to street ministry was a little different from the stereotypical idea of people standing on street corners, handing out tracts and confronting random strangers, which often results in pushing people away from the kingdom. Instead, we "adopted" a small area of the city called Rundle Mall and Hindley Street and visited there many different times each week, frequenting the shops, walking the streets, hanging out meeting people as God led. Sometimes we just walked and prayed and other times we found ways to connect with people by giving out water, sodas, flowers. etc. Our main focus was simply to be available to join in with whatever God was already doing. Some nights it seemed very small and weak, but every time we found opportunities and through these simple acts, God moved in amazing ways!
Rundle street has a open mall with many different shops. During the day the mall is full of shoppers, vendors and street performers ("buskers"). At night the streets are much quieter, but there is still quite a bit of foot traffic, made of a mix of business people, lingering shoppers, street performers, homeless and revelers. There are many benches throughout the mall area and free wi-fi, so there were always opportunities to meet interesting people who were just hanging around. We ran into Michael and Rod almost every night on the mall and were able to develop a connection, praying with them about their struggles and having some very deep discussions.
Hindley Street is known as the entertainment district of Adelaide. This is also the area of Adelaide where many of the underground brothels operate out of the back of nightclubs, karaoke bars and massage parlors. Many nights we simply walked and prayed in this area, as many people were not really open to talking, but over time things really opened up. This was the place where we met Richard, the man whose testimony we featured in a prior blog post. God was really after Richard and he used our encounter with him to bring about a total transformation in a very short time.
No matter what we did or where we went, we found that if we would just be willing to look around and really see what was going on, it was actually very easy to find people that needed some help, a little bit of encouragement or just a kind word. It was amazing to see the reactions when they asked why we would come from all over the world just to walk the streets and talk to people. It gave us a great opening to talk about what God has done in our lives and in many cases led to opportunities to speak into their lives and prayer for issues or speak into opportunities that He was highlighting in their lives.
Our approach to street ministry was inspired by a movie we had watched as a team called "Father of Lights". There was one story in particular that impressed us all, which followed a man named Todd White (who happens to be from PA!) as he simply prayed for people he met on the streets. I don't have a direct clip from the movie, but here is one of his videos on YouTube, which is a great example of the amazing things God does to demonstrate his love and interest in his children!
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.
Hi everyone! Amy and I were inspired tonight to do something fun (or at least interesting) to get to know our "audience" and to share a little bit more about ourselves as well. So, here goes...
In our DTS training, we learned to prepare a short testimony about how we came to know Jesus as our personal savior, basically in 5 sentences or less. The purpose is to be prepared at any moment to share with someone else the good news about what God has done or is doing in your life. So, our challenge to each of you is to share your own story about how you came to know Christ, or some other story about how God is working in your life now, here on this blog. You can join in by scrolling to the bottom of this post and clicking on the adding a comment to this post. Remember it may only be 5 or less short sentences, something like this (Carl's testimony):
"I was raised in a Christian home, but I didn't have a personal relationship with Christ. As a young adult, I turned my back to Christianity and immersed myself in all kinds of pleasures. After years of vain pursuits, I was left empty and broken. I found myself running to the front of an unfamiliar church where a stranger prayed something over me that was only God could have known and at the same time I was filled with a deep sense of peace that has never left. Since that day I have been forever changed and I know that I am a son of God because of the work of his Son, and my Lord, Jesus."
Thanks in advance for sharing, can't wait to hear more about your own stories!
Hello from "down under" to all of our friends and family. In case this is the first post from our blog that you are reading, we are currently serving on an outreach team doing volunteer missions work in city of Adelaide, which is in the state of South Australia. Our team is stationed on the Youth with a Mission (YWAM) base in Norton Summit, a town in the Adelaide hills with beautiful views of vineyards and cityscapes nearby. Amy, the girls and I staying in a dorm room and are enjoying the close quarters so much that we are actually considering down sizing when we return! While we are here we are joining in with several ministries run by the YWAM team, including working on Saturday nights at a Salvation Army shelter, visiting brothels to minister to women involved in the sex industry as well as going out on the streets in teams to meet people and pray with them. We have been able to join in supporting churches in the area by supporting preschool/mom programs, cleaning, performing dramas, helping run worship and sharing sermons at various church services. Lastly, we've had the opportunity to help with practical things like cleaning and maintenance both here on the base and in the local community around the base.
For those of you keeping up with us in real time on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/LefeverFamilyMissionsAdventures), you already know that the ministry opportunities continue to grow and bear fruit. It has been exciting and life changing for the team to watch God move in amazing ways. At first it seemed like we were just working on a variety of unrelated things, but the Lord has been showing us how he is working behind the scenes to bring everything together in ways that only he could do. We are seeing people that we meet during street ministry on subsequent occasions, which is amazing in itself given that there are close to 1.5 million people in the city! We've also watched as seemingly simple acts of kindness, like handing out water or flowers has opened doors for very deep conversations. In all of these interactions, we have been able to share God's love practically and when possible, share our testimonies and personal understanding of the gospel. As a result, we have been able to make some deep connections in a short time and are seeing lives transformed!
Just one example that I am excited to share with you is the story of a man called Richard, whose family moved here to Adelaide 20 years ago from Czechoslovakia. We met Richard a few weeks ago and in this short time has become a dear friend and brother. I share his story because it exemplifies the extravagance with which God works to bring his children back to him and the amazing way that he uses his people and circumstances to do this:
We met Richard during street ministry one night early in our outreach. The team went out that night praying that God would show us people who really needed prayer and encouragement. We passed by Richard huddled in a door frame, dazed from drinking heavily and afraid for his safety after being robbed and other tough experiences on the streets at night. We learned more about Richards life and struggles during later encounters, but at this time we just visited with him, encouraged him to not give up and pursue God and also prayed for healing, as his ankle had been injured during a fight and was making walking difficult. He was noticeably brighter when we left, mainly because we had taken the time to sit and talk with him and had prayed for him. Before leaving we shared information about the Salvation Army shelter with him and invited him to meet us there on a Saturday night when we worked there.
After not seeing Richard for two weeks, one of our team members called to check in on him. He sounded much better than when we'd last met and agreed to let us meet him at the park near where he was sleeping. We took him some food, talked with him for a while and learned that his ankle was no longer giving him trouble! While he was still on the streets, he had moved out to a park outside of the city center and was working on getting a place to live. We felt we should spend more time with him, so we invited him to help us pick up some donations for Salvos. We ate a meal at a diner together and heard more of his story. We learned that several months earlier, Richard had a good job in Melbourne and was living a "good life". After being made "redundant" and losing his job, Richard returned home to Adelaide, began using heroin and quickly blew through a large sum of money and ended up in a serious vehicle accident. After almost seven days in a coma, Richards kidneys, liver and lungs failed. However, with only four hours left before the doctors were scheduled to pull him off of life support, he awoke free from heroin and speaking of seeing a vision of heaven! Richard had a number of health complications as a result of the coma, including diabetes and an enlarged heart. Much to the amazement of his doctors, the diabetes disappeared after 24 hours and other than needing medicine to help reduce the swelling in his heart he was healthy and left the hospital.
While this was an amazing experience, there were more issues in Richard's life and within 3 weeks he was kicked out of his home due to a fight with his father that had turned violent and landed him in a prison cell for two nights. With no where else to go after being released, Richard began living on the streets and drinking heavily. After living on the streets for 6 weeks, Richard wanted to return but did not believe that his father would accept him as every call home ended in shouting. We encouraged him to contact his parents again and prayed with him that they would be reconciled. Less than 24 hours later, we received a text from Richard that he was at his parents house and that his father had invited him to eat with them! While the night with his parents had gone well, he returned to the park that night because he was struggling with their request that he enter a detox program before coming home. We encouraged him to follow his parents wishes and prayed for him that he would have the strength to complete the program. He agreed to give it a go and so the next day we dropped him off at a government run detox facility in Adelaide.
Five days later, Richard was joining us at Salvos to help pick up donations and minister to poor and needy people on the street! He is continually talking about the way the Lord has intervened in his life and knows there are greater purposes for him; in fact, he is already developing ideas for reaching out to the youth on the streets here in Adelaide. Life is certainly not easy, as Richard has to deal with the repercussions of his poor choices, but he is fighting to stay sober, he is working to make things right with the law and his family and is studying to get a project management certificate so that he can find work and live on his own. God is still working to bring other strong christians to come along side Richard to support him in his journey; just a week ago we we happened to be introduced to a man who migrated to Adelaide with his wife from Czechoslovakia have been praying to connect with new christians from their homeland that they could support and mentor. We connected Richard with them, he is staying with them now and they have committed to loving him back to health! The Lord obviously has great plans for Richard and it's been a pleasure to be a small part of them.
(L to R, Nicolai, Matt, Richard, Matthanja, Carl)
While Richard's story is certainly the most dramatic of those we've met, there were many others that God connected us with to encourage and pray with and several whose lives were changed tangibly. We've seen healings, we've seen people that had turned cold to God warmed again and we've seen people come back to us to learn more about God and what they need to do find him. In each case, God used different members of the team and different circumstances and methods, but in each it was clear that God was already working in their life and that our interaction was simply a physical way to remind them he was there and cared about them. This has been a key learning for me, as I've often had the mistaken impression that all of the pressure was on me to go out there and do something and hope that God showed up and that people were receptive. Instead what I see is that God is the one doing the work - he is leading us to people that need his love and we are simply coming alongside to help him. In a way, it's very similar to our children helping us around the house. For those of you with children, you will appreciate this analogy as often it is the parents that are really doing the work, but it teaches our children to participate and brings them joy to be a part of the work.
This has been an exciting and rewarding adventure for each of the families on our team. Our goal was simply to be available and do whatever God led us to share his love and help people in their journey with God. We have been truly blessed to see what God is doing here in Adelaide and feel privileged that he would give us the honor of joining with him in this work. On a personal level, God has shown me that he has a much greater purpose for his children here on earth that just living a "normal life" and that while we are but weak vessels, he can do many great things through us if we are only willing to lay down our lives for his way. As a family, we are finding it hard to leave here as it has been so rewarding but are looking forward to continuing in this journey wherever that may lead! Until next time, blessings and peace to each of you and heartfelt thanks for all of your prayers and encouraging words throughout our trip.
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Just over a week ago, five families totaling 9 adults and 14 children arrived at the YWAM base in Australia to begin the outreach phase of our Discipleship Training School which started in New Zealand! While in Australia, we are staying at the YWAM Adelaide base in Norton Summit, which is located in the hills above Adelaide. The base sits on 20+ acres of beautiful land with lots of great views, particularly in the morning and evening. There are frequently koala bears in the trees on the property and occasionally some kangaroos travel thru in the mornings, although I haven't seen one yet. The building is huge and has lots of space for the kids to run around and the rooms are pretty comfortable. The permanent staff on the base are made of singles and newly married couples, so it would be an understatement to say that we are bringing some new activity and noise to the base! Most of the staff are Brazilian, so it's been great to get introduced to that culture and as I write this, I am looking forward to the Brazilian barbecue we are going to enjoy this evening!
Our primary focus on this trip is to serve the people of the city of Adelaide in some practical ways and minister personally to individuals as opportunities arise. There YWAM team here in Adelaide have already been working to establish various forms of outreach to the city, so we have great opportunities to join in there. We will also be doing some projects on our own in the city and pitching in on some practical work to help maintain the base. Here's a summary of the main ministry opportunities we will be involved in each week:
Throughout the week we've been going out in small teams out into the streets of Adelaide at various times of day to get to know the city, make connections with people and find small ways to bless them. So far we've had groups going on the streets at night as well as families going out to parks in the day. We've made a lot of great connections already. I was on a team that went out at night and we had a great time, met several people who we were able to pray for and got to learn more about the city and plan out future activities.
On Tuesday's and Fridays, the women on our team are joining in with a ministry that serves women involved in the sex industry here in Adelaide. While prostitution is technically illegal here, there are over 1,000 known brothels operating in massage parlors and homes in the city. The main focus of the ministry is to reach out to the women involved, blessing them, praying for them as well as facilitating help for those looking to get out of the business. It's a blessing that Amy and the rest of the team are getting a chance to minister directly to those involved here in Adelaide, as these women tend to be ignored by most of society due to the assumption that they are involved willingly. While some do live this way by choice, many of these women are enslaved to drugs and some are physically enslaved, having been trafficked out of South East Asia and other areas of the world. While here I has a chance to read a book called "Not For Sale" that documents the degree to which human slavery in various forms, including the sex industry, is operating across the world, it's quite astonishing to see how pervasive it is and heart breaking to hear of the stories.
On Saturday's, the men on our team are helping to staff the "Do Unto Others" program in conjunction with the Salvation Army in Adelaide. The Salvos open up their shelter from 6pm on Saturday to 5am on Sunday to provide an alternative place for homeless and other vulnerable people to find food, clothing and shelter. The serve about 150 people for dinner, hold a church service and then have the shelter open for coffee, donuts, movies and sleeping until 5am on Sunday. The YWAM team serves in two shifts, I served on the night shift from 12am - 5am this week. I was the "barista" in the cafe and got to make some great coffee. It was somewhat slower than normal, but I was able to meet quite a few interesting people and got to pray with one man who has some back problems.
On Thursdays, the YWAM team partners with a church in Portside Adelaide to run a breakfast club at a local high school and a play area for preschool kids and mums in the church. I helped out with the breakfast club this week, making pancakes in the school courtyard for kids coming to school. Some others helped out with the preschool program, called "Green Monkeys" and got to make some connections with some local moms.
As you can see, we are keeping busy, but we are having a lot of fun and enjoy having the chance to get involved with having a positive impact in the world. The girls had a sad time leaving their new found friends in New Zealand, but each has some friends close to their age in the families that are in our team here in Australia and there are a few others on the base too, so they are now back to running around inside and out during the days when they are not home schooling. We are helping out in the kitchen on this base, so we've had a lot of fun coming up with meal ideas and learning how to feed an army! We are also responsible for leading our own times of worship, prayer and planning our outreaches, which is giving us lots of opportunities to practice what we learned in New Zealand! While we have free time throughout the week, Mondays are completely free. During our time off this week, we were able to get out to the beach and it was wonderful. The water is very clear, there were some great shops along the beach and we got to see a beautiful sunset!
No matter what we did or where we went, we found that if we would just be willing to look around and really see what was going on, it was actually very easy to find people that needed some help, a little bit of encouragement or just a kind word. It was amazing to see the reactions when they asked why we would come from all over the world just to walk the streets and talk to people. It gave us a great opening to talk about what God has done in our lives and in many cases led to opportunities to speak into their lives and prayer for issues or speak into opportunities that He was highlighting in their lives. 
