Monday, February 21, 2011

Thailand March 2011

Plans have altered slightly and I will now be in Thailand from 6-15 March!
This is as part of the Iris Thailand Survey Team. The team will be staying in Bangkok from 1st March, I will join them from the 6th and on the 7th we will all travel together to Pattaya. We will be visiting different NGOs and seeking God's heart on what He wants for Iris Thailand. There is already one Iris alumni living in Thailand. She graduated from HS12 in August 2010, and followed the Lord's leading to move to Thailand :) We will be a team of about 14-17. Some of the team will be spending some time ministering in the mountains as well.

I have just this morning booked my flight from Melbourne to Bangkok! It is soo exciting knowing that I am in God's will, and even after it was booked, I arrived at work and one of the girls who has nothing to do with the trip told me of a dream she had had last night where I left for Thailand on 6th March. God is just so good and loving in confirming! I waited for so long to book this ticket because I wasn't sure if He wanted me to go the 27th Feb or 6th March. I also didn't want to miss out on anything... yet He has His reasons and it will give me an extra week with friends and church family here in Melbourne. Please pray for continued provision for this Asia trip. Part of it will be ministering in Darwin, Australia among the indigenous people from May 10-25. I am so excited to be able to minister in my own country as well...

MISSION: To love the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to look after the widows and orphans, to father the fatherless, to loose those in bondage, to free the captives, to pour out the Father’s love on the hurting, to bring the healing power of Jesus to the sick and the afflicted, to release the spirit of adoption on the orphan heart, to bring justice to where there is injustice, and to love the darkness out of Thailand.

VISION: To recruit Iris Mission School Alumni’s to tour Thailand and build relationships with already existing NGO’s, and also to help better understand the need of the surrounding areas so that God can open the doors for Iris Thailand.  We will be doing some street work, treasure hunt type of Holy Spirit, prophetic prayer for people. 

ONE YEAR GOAL for Iris Thailand: To scout out possible property and to maintain healthy relationships with existing NGO’s. To prayerfully consider what the Lord has for Iris in the countries of Thailand and Cambodia, whatever it looks like, ie, an Iris Base, children’s center, a women’s shelter, a job training facility…or other creative God ideas. To connect with the existing NGO’s to better work together in abolishing modern slavery.  For Iris Thailand, we hope to commission our Iris Alumni missionaries and inject into this darkness special Iris Holy Spirit DNA!


Check out the Iris Thailand Blog for updates during the trip!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Week 0, Harvest School... before it started!

 Psalm 42:
  7 Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls;
         All Your waves and billows have gone over me.
 8 The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime,
         And in the night His song shall be with me—
         A prayer to the God of my life.

I realised I wrote about week 1, but didn't write about what happened even before the first full week of school!

I arrived in Pemba, Mozambique on the Wednesday before school started. I still remember my first meal of beans and rice... for some reason beans tasted best on wednesdays - maybe it was the sauce??

So we arrived at the airport and were greeted by some Iris Harvest staff with much joy! It felt like love just oozed out of them. I remember squeezing out of the airport finally after collecting my baggage (we could almost not move in there, packed in like sardines as we were) and just being enveloped in this great big warm hug by Mama Pamela. We then proceeded to load our gear on a truck, and squish into another cameon which was waiting for us.


At the base, we found out which houses we were to stay in for the week and I met my housemates - a couple from England, 2 beautiful ladies from the states and our youngest housemate who was from Canada :) (throughout the next weeks this youngest housemate and I often ended up on the floor together in the doorway of our house, carried in and left there by our loving and beautiful hearted friends... yes, and our situation was taken advantage of by the others who took photos and videos). The next night our house parents arrived from the early bird outreach in Beira, where they had just helped out with and ministered at a conference there.

Thursday night - we had worship under the stars in the dirt outside the house next to us. Everyone got brought their plastic chairs - or not - and as the staff blew the shofar, played guitar and led worship, God crashed in... can I just say, that some of the most powerful and intimate experiences I have had with God in a corporate setting have been under the African stars, in the dirt (literally. my clothes, face, arms, legs were proof of it later), breezes from the Indian ocean caressing us gently... Jesus brought joy, he brought tears, he brought freedom, he brought funny random moments like Nicky the dog deciding to lay down right behind some students abandoned in worship... a few moments later there was a yelp as he got stepped on and ran off... he's a good dog, doesn't bite when he gets hurt :) Another funny random moment was when I recovered enough from rolling around in the dirt to sit up. I turned around, caught another students eye and we were so filled with the love and joy of the Holy Spirit that we just laughed and fell into each others arms... literally fell. Back into the dirt... Later I realised it was actually Miriam, one of my housemates :) - it was dark!


The first day of school was Friday - therefore technically not week 1, yet! I will let you in to one of my journal excerpts.


"Yesterday was orientation. We had practical stuff in the morning, then Heidi and Rolland spoke. Heidi spoke about this school being a school of 10x. 10x miracles, which reminded me of the start of this year when my pastor got the word 10x anointing over our church! This was also when Heidi said "Your vision's too small..."

Then we had baptisms in the Indian Ocean.
I felt like God had been leading me to this moment. The theme and the idea of being ready to lay down and die had been in my heart and my thoughts during the preparation time leading up to Mozambique, so much so that I even mentioned it to the intercessors at my church before leaving. I really really felt that I was going to Mozambique, going to Mission school for LOVE. Going there to lay down and die, and to learn about LOVE and go deeper into HIS heart. 
I was also sick of having a divided heart. I was ready to let Him into every part of me.

This is the start of the rest of my life."

Another journal excerpt, from 8th October - I realise this is the day before the last entry, however it works out well in telling the story.

8th Oct 2010 
Baptised into my new life in Jesus!!!

In the Indian Ocean in Pemba with all the Mozambican Pastors and Harvest School staff and students. Oh how I love You... You just got me with your joy and I had to be pulled, floating, up the line as they were soaking me, up to the shallow water.

Wholly given.
Wholly yielded.
I am Yours.
You are mine.

You are so loving and huge and loving.

Deep, deeper, deeper.

Reach down deep into me and I will go deep into you!

Take me deeper into Your heart, and claim me as Your own. Fully possessed by You. I love you...