* Hey there, my Blog has moved to lifegiver.nz go check it out!
Here is an old blog from when I first started YWAM…
Hey there, welcome to my blog, where I will keep you up to date on everything happening during my time in New Zealand!! Feel free to ask questions on anything, and check back regularly for updates on my day to day life.
For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Nathanael Herman, and I am currently in New Zealand for a 3 month training in God’s word, in order to prepare myself for a 9 week outreach into a destination in Asia. Below you can see a quick look at where I am and what I’ll be doing. I am attending the Musicians and Singers DTS mentioned in the video below – check it out.
January 28, 2017
Small group in worship hall
Today our Musicians and singers group decided to go to a christian Music Festival, called Festival One. It was a really fun time where we just spent the whole day relaxing and enjoying the Music that God has given to us. What was really cool about the Festival was only knew like three of the near 60 artists that were performing so I was introduced to many new bands and new styles of music.
January 27, 2017
Hey Y’all, We are having a great time today enjoying God’s Beauty and learning how to have an intimate relationship with Him. As I am writing this, I realized I had not said anything about the people I have been living with. Also I haven’t mentioned where I’m actually living. So, I have two roommates John (from Colorado) and Theo (from Germany) – both of which I really enjoy living with. Also our entire group is living on a small college campus called Faith Bible College, which despite the name (YWAM Bethlehem) is not actually located in Bethlehem New Zealand but instead 15 minutes away in the town of Tauranga.
average day in class
January 26, 2017
Today we were introduced to “THOP” or the “Tauranga House of Prayer”. THOP, is a sister organization to the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, Mo. The main goal of the International house of prayer is to have a combined worship and prayer service ongoing 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
We also found out our outreach locations today; New Zealand, East Asia, and the Middle east. Keep the questions and comments coming, I love to hear from you all.
Your basic NZ beach!
January 25, 2017
Wow! This was an amazing day! After starting the day off with worship, Marty Emmett, one of the campus leaders, talked to us on “How ‘Radical Transformation’ can only come through ‘Radical Transparency’ “. This led into how to be transparent with others and how the people you trust can help you repent from the lies that you had been believing and then receive forgiveness. This step was then followed up by rebuking the devil, and then replacing all the lies in your life with actual truths that God has said about you. This conversation was concluded with Marty opening up the front and asking if anyone wanted to come up front and go through the process mentioned above,.We sat there amazed as we listened. I think it was nearly 10 hours that passed as people poured out their lives to us, and we then in turn, to borrow the term Marty used, “Loved the hell out of them”.
Just an average view of NZ
January 24, 2017
We are officially welcomed to the Island here, in Tauranga now that we have gone through the official ceremony called a Powhiri. It was an amazing experience all done in the language of the Maori (in other words none of us could understand it but we really enjoyed it). We then learned some of the history of the Island and how God has moved in the land.
Unfortunately it was one of those where it’s somewhat disrespectful to take pictures, so no I wasn’t able to get any.
However we are now officially a part of the Island tribe here in Tauranga!
Monday 23, 2017
Me in my dorm room
First Day of School!! We started the day with worship, singing and dancing and shouting praises to the Lord. It was definitely one of my top ten times of worship I have ever had. God is moving in amazing ways in this community.
Sunday 22, 2017
“Comparing yourself to others steals joy” was the topic of todays sermon. It was an excellent sermon, at an awesome church here in Bethlehem. Today was my first full day in New Zealand, and the jet lag is wearing off already. We decided, despite the bad weather, to enjoy some time at the beach; it was beautiful. I’m missing all of you already. Keep up your prayers as school starts tomorrow, and our schedule becomes significantly more full.
First time at the beach!
Saturday 21, 2017
Alrighty let’s get this thing going! I have finally, after 24 hours of flights and layovers, made into the city of Bethlehem (A suburb of Tauranga) located in the beautiful country of New Zealand. I was blessed for the duration of my flight to have no problems finding my gates or getting through customs, and I had no problem finding the wonderful staff from YWAM. The landscape is beautiful and the weather is very humid. Thank you all for your support financially and through Prayer; It means the world to me to know that I have such a wonderful family standing behind me. Also FYI New Zealand is 21 hours ahead of Spring Creek time so if you are wondering why my posts are all dated in the future- that’s why.
Alrighty that concludes my first post come on back a couple times a week and leave comments or any questions you may have and I’ll try and answer them. Also I will try and have pictures up as soon as possible. Thanks!
Sunrise before entering New Zealand.