Aotearoa, meaning "Land of the Long White Cloud," is the Māori name for New Zealand. For the past six weeks, our school has been living about two hours north of Auckland, Aotearoa NZ. Here, we have been completing our lectures and learning more about the culture of the Pacific through studying this nation's history and getting to know the members of this small community.
YWAM Aotearoa, NZ
For our first week in New Zealand, we travelled up north to an area called the Bay of Islands, a historically rich area of NZ. There, we were able to learn about the history and culture of the land. We also spent some time giving back to the land before we left, through gardening work in the community center!
Since then, we have been living on an old retreat center that is now known as YWAM Zion. Here, we have been finishing our lectures and participating in local community outreach. Some of the lecture topics that we have covered over the past six weeks include Identity, Lordship, Spiritual Warfare, and Holy Spirit / Spiritual Formation!
If you're interested in reading more about the history of New Zealand, follow the link below! This is the website for the community center that we visited, learned from, and gardened at.
Holy Spirit Teaching
Last week, I had the opportunity to teach for three days about the personhood and character of the Holy Spirit! In the past when I have taught, it has typically been about a book of the Bible and only for one day (meaning, about three hours worth of teaching). Preparing this longer, topical teaching has been challenging for me, but I have learned and grown so much through it! I am hoping to continue learning about this topic so that I can be prepared to do similar teachings in the future.
Outreach: Papua New Guinea
This week is our final week of lectures, and we will be studying prayer, worship, and intercession. On Saturday, our school will leave New Zealand and we will begin our outreaches! I will be co-leading a team of seven students to Papua New Guinea for the next six weeks. During this time, we plan to travel around the Province of Madang leading small groups, distributing Bibles, facilitating children's ministry, and more!
Prayer Points
- We have seen incredible growth in the students over the past month. They have been letting go of lies they have believed about themselves, deepening their relationships with the Lord, and gaining vision over their lives / beginning to intentionally walk in the gifts that God has given them. Please pray for their continued growth as they head out to their outreaches! Join me as I pray for their courage and strength, for them to continue leaning into the Lord, even in difficult situations and circumstances.
- Please pray for safety as we travel this week. Last year, our team experienced a flight cancellation which altered our plans for an entire week! We are praying for safety and protection as we leave New Zealand.
- Honestly, these past several weeks have been tiring for me. Between planning our outreach and preparing the teaching, I have not allowed myself much free time to participate in the things I enjoy. I would appreciate prayers for rest over my mind as we travel to PNG!
I am also in the process of creating a missions instagram account to keep you all more updated on our day to day activity. If you would like to follow along the journey, go follow @schulteis.missions !! Hope you all are doing well & enjoying the autumn weather (:
With love, Hannah
If you would like to donate to our ministry, follow the instructions below!
Venmo: @hannah-schulteis Paypal: hmschulteis@gmail.com For tax deductible donations, follow the link below, select 'missionary' under the 'choose a fund' tab, then enter my full name 'Hannah Schulteis' in the comments section.