Outreach Stories V2

God answers prayers. My outreach was a lesson in learning to trust God to come through when you need Him to come through, and because my team was learning to lean on God and his promises and goodness, we saw him come through in some pretty cool ways. 

The day after we landed in Vi-tn-m we were trying to get to an open church where we had a contact to meet up with. Asian traffic is crazy, taxi drivers often don't know all the back alleys, and get confused. We also only had an address to go
on and there were two streets with the same name that were some distance apart. As a result, one of our taxis got lost in Ha-Noi having no idea where they are in a city where very few people speak english, and those that do often don't speak conversationally. After driving around for about an hour and paying way more than they were supposed to, one of my leaders and half of my team-mates were missing.

Having no other option than to just stop and pray, my leader Laura did just that, asking God to show them where they were, and how to get to where they needed to be. Literally seconds after praying, a white man passed on a bike, and pedalled back to where Laura was. He asked "Are you going to church?" and proceeded to tell her exactly where they were, where the church met, even down to where it was in the building.

Another time, my buddy Jed and I were trying to get back to our hotel with only a map with a few land marks and a general knowledge of what busses we need. Unfortunately, we couldn't figure out where the bus stop that we needed was and to make a long story short, we ended up in the bottom right corner of the map, and we needed to be in the top right corner of the map. We were walking down the street totally frustrated, having no idea where we were, and knowing that very few people in the city could speak English at all. I prayed, "God, please send us someone who can speak english and tell us where we are." desperate to figure out a way back so we could meet up with the rest of our team- mates without spending the little cash that I had on me. We were in front of a coffee shop, and a lady came to try and help us, but she couldn't speak english well enough to give us any clear directions. Then, a man drove up on his motor bike, came over and in clear English showed us where we were. We saw that there was supposed to be a bus station near us, and proceeded to walk away after getting our bearings. I looked back, expecting to see the man going to pick up a coffee, but instead I saw him get back on his bike and drive away. A perfect stranger stopped and helped us a minute after asking God for something that I thought was a little bit too big.

Since coming back from outreach I read in 1 Timothy "Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment." There isn't a whole ton of money in volunteering for YWAM, and I had enjoyed having a bike while I was in Vi-tN-m. As soon as my plane landed back in New Zealand I started asking Him for a bike, being encouraged by the scripture previously mentioned. 

The maintenance man (who is also my room-mate and great friend) needed help moving someone's stuff from their house to an accommodation near our base. He had been praying for a nice grill to cook on since before he left to work on the base. The woman we were helping to move asked, "Do you happen to know anyone who needs a nice grill?" My friend Ben just started laughing. He now has a grill to barbecue on. I saw this answer to prayer and sent up (rather selfishly) "Dad, where's my bike?". We were moving cabinets out of the garage, when I happened to look to it's side and noticed a bike leading against it. I asked, with hope rising in my heart, "Do you want us to load up the bike too?" She laughed and said, "No, that can be taken to the rubbish". She proceeded to tell me that it was just ugly and she didn't have room for her, so excitedly asked her if I could "take it off her hands for her", and she agreed. 

Even as I'm writing this God is showing his faithfulness. I was craving some Fish'n'Chips, but there wasn't any space in the vans to go and get some. A friend brought some back and gave it to me. Answered prayers are delicious and satisfying.

God bless, and may he show you his incredible favour and kindness as you seek to know his heart and see his face.