MPA in our Communities

TAKAPAU, WHANGANUI AND NEW PLYMOUTH

This year I have been organising road trips for some enthusiastic young ladies. Since they are 9-15 years old, that has to be outside of school hours. Remembering that we had a new long weekend this year, seven of us jumped at the opportunity to go away for two nights to Whanganui and New Plymouth at Matariki. A few weeks later, a couple of us did another trip, this time to Rotorua.

The Matariki Weekend trip was a significant time away for all involved. Before we left I was encouraged to see God’s provision and hand on things, even in the face of spiritual battles. For example, someone sent fuel vouchers and someone else stopped me at the checkout to pay for the groceries for the trip – glory to God.

The three days away was an incredible time of outreach, fellowship and fun. Outreach is the main reason for these trips. Being the fourth one, most of the girls have become used to approaching strangers to hand out literature and were keen for more conversations.

One girl paired up with me in Dannevirke, where two teenagers paused briefly to receive tracts. I asked if they knew much about Jesus, which they didn’t. They agreed we could explain a bit more to them and so I left the rest to my 11-year-old companion who beautifully shared the reason Jesus came, tied in to Romans 6:23.

Another girl got in a conversation while patting a cute dog and talking to its owner.

As we were walking down the street in a big group, one of the girls gave an “After Life” tract to an elderly man. He stopped to thank us, saying his wife of sixty years had passed away “a year ago, tomorrow.” We paused to talk and pray for him. He pulled out balloons for the team, from a pocket stash he had reserved for his grandchildren.

We went to an evening event to give out literature. Two of the girls gave a tract to a lady and ended up in a fifteen minute conversation. The lady asked, “Even if you’re a volunteer and you do all this good stuff, you still go to hell?” To which they replied, “Yes.” “That’s harsh, isn’t it?” “Well, we can’t say that because God made a way; we just haven’t accepted His way…” was the response of one girl. She then thought to herself, “Wow, where did that come from?” an experience I can relate to when having conversations myself where I don’t know what to say but the Lord just gives the words at the right time.

The two girls couldn’t stop smiling for the rest of the night and I don’t blame them, because it is awesome to be used by God in such ways and share the Gospel with others.

All the girls were buzzing from the outreach and I was thankful that the Lord had answered my specific prayer for every single one of them to have at least one good Gospel conversation.

As well as intentional outreach, we also visited others involved in ministry and had good fellowship. Firstly we stopped in Takapau to join in with a Matariki stall I helped organise, run by friends in the area who jumped in to help out and had a great time chatting to locals.

We visited the MPA base in Whanganui, to see the source of the calendars and other literature we have handed out and the mailbox lessons that they send out. Malachi and Char still had some of their old machines to show off, which was pretty impressive and we enjoyed watching demonstrations on them.

In New Plymouth where we stayed, we enjoyed fellowship with our hosts and their church. We saw a couple from Wycliffe Bible Translators who shared about their work teaching and helping pregnant mums. One of the team was inspired by their talk and is seriously thinking of how she can serve God in ways like that when she finishes school.

And in between we had a tonne of fun.

A few weeks later three of us went to Rotorua for 3 nights, where we teamed up with other young people for outreach. We did a day trip to Mount Maunganui and another to Hamilton, where we enjoyed sight-seeing, fellowship and giving out Gospel booklets along the way.

I’m hugely thankful to the Lord for a great trip and thanks to all who prayed and supported through prayer and practical support.

– Maria Henderson

Dargaville Girls Brigade

I just want to thank you so much for the lessons. The girls have really enjoyed their small groups and doing the lessons. The leaders have enjoyed marking them and giving out the certificates. The girls loved getting their three month certificates and are looking forward to their six months.

- Pauline Taylor

KIRIKIRIROA / HAMILTON

The Good News Community Centre in Hamilton invited Maori Postal to have a stand at their Matariki outreach event on June 24th. The event was based on craft activities including raranga, making manu tukutuku, colouring Matariki pictures and origami whetū. There was also a short video presentation of the story of Matariki and a free sausage sizzle.

The tamariki loved doing the different activities and every whanau that attended visited the MPA stand and took something with them. Especially popular were the Tamariki A Ihowā magazines, the colouring pages and the new Te Tino Kōrero comics. At the end of the day, one tāne came and asked if he could take the left-over magazines and posters for his church.

We thank the Lord for this enjoyable day and for the opportunity to promote the work and resources of MPA in the community.

Murupara

God has been doing amazing things in the community of Murupara. We have been very successful in sharing MPA resources all over the eastern Bay of Plenty from Ruatahuna to Galatea, to Whakatane and right down to Wairoa - even Perth, Australia. We were very blessed to be able to come together with our Christian brothers and sisters from Wairoa and spend four days at Opape Marae with Pastor Celia and Rob Grant from Encounter Church Whakatane, and Pastor Waipatu and Desiree Winitana from Cityrock Church Wairoa where we shared testimonies, outdoor activities, baptisms, Sunday church service, fellowship, worship and many other things.

The Bible instructs us to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace in Ephesians 4:3-6. “Forthereisonebody,and one Spirit even as we are called in one hope of our calling. One Lord, one Faith and one Baptism. One God and Father ofallwhoisaboveallandthroughallandinusall.” This is exactly what God was doing in all of us. Through His Spirit we learnt so much about one another. It was as if we had all grown up together.

Psalm 133:1 “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head”. God is so amazing. Thank you Jesus. Photos of our trip back to Opape.

Each year we look forward to presenting the MPA resources to our Community at the Light Celebration as the time of Matariki approaches in late June. This year it was held at a different location, in Te Kopuru about ten kilometres from Dargaville.

The Boating Club was transformed with decorations and many folk from the Community, including families, came along to enjoy the evening.

Once again Warwick prepared an amazing display of light creations which he had made and Paula baked her star-shaped shortbread to give away. Always a great way to start conversations about our reason for being there!

As the evening unfolded, we were disappointed that the weather changed and the rain came. However that disappointment turned to thankfulness as many folk came into our tent for shelter.

It gave us even greater opportunities to tell people about the ministry of MPA and give them the magazines and posters. God certainly does work all things together for the good…even the weather.

We had a number of good conversations with folk who seemed interested in MPA and why we were there. Praise the Lord!

It was especially awesome that the organisers were very supportive and grateful that we had come along to be part of this Community Event.

May the Lord use all that was done for His glory.