Archive for July, 2008

Cape York Update 4. Some stories and pictures!!

Published by Josiah Ritner July 28th, 2008 in news. 0 Comments

Here are some more stories from the outreach crissa is on. They are doing well. They are seeing some cool stuff happen. They are getting to minister to lots of people. Crissa is doing really well. She is really enjoying the time. She is especially loving the dancing. Please continue to pray for her and the team. Thank You!

(above picture is crissa speaking) Click here to read stories from people who are on the team with Crissa.

Injinoo

* Attendance: 160
* Decisions: 13

Jesaia – Just as we were starting the show, about four beats into the opening dance, the lights went out and we lost all power. The power came back on and the dance started a second time, but the power went off again at the same point. Finally, when the lights came back on they were able to continue on with the dance, but we were so fired up that this was a battle that we were in.

Tim – One of the men that came forward was an older man who was struggling with alcohol and having a hard time. As he was talking, he was fighting back tears and Ale actually thanked him for coming forward and representing the Fathers in Injinoo. We found out later that he was one of the village elders. The other older person was a lady, and she was an elder as well. So, they were taking a stand

Ryan – Noticed that one of the girls that brought up a couple younger ones was a girl that the DTS team last year had spent a lot of time with ministering to. It was cool to see her influencing her peers and it was evidence that we are making a difference.

Tim & Mena – Aesia felt like they should make up a dance to the song “Amazing Love” and he and Mena had talked about even back in Townsville. Aesia felt like he should do this dance and song for Injinoo. They put the dance together and after talking to the pastor, they found out that there was a plane crash here four years ago and during that time, this song was really important in ministering to people as they grieved the loss of lives. Aesia and Meesi performed the dance and it was amazing because the presence of the Lord was so strong and you could feel it comforting people.

David – Had some pain in his hamstring and after the team prayed for him, he didn’t feel any pain during the performance.

Peita – We had a couple of kids come up who wanted Bibles, so Julie and I sat down with them and shared the Gospel with them and gave them one, but before we finished, another group of kids came up wanting Bibles. Pretty soon, we were sharing with groups of kids to help them understand the importance of what’s written in the book.

Bamaga

* Attendance: 131
* Decisions: 7

Michelle Tawoy – I was crying tonight because I know the story of one of the girls that came forward. She is the daughter of a pastor, but she has fallen away and for many years been doing the wrong things. I know she was serious because she walked forward in front of everyone.

Jennifer Murphy = One lady came forward and was really grateful because she had been reading her Bible and praying and stuff, but her Church never gave her a chance to go forward and recommit her life, but she had been wanting to for a long time. So, she kept thanking us for coming so that she could come forward.

Alaphate’ – It was my first time to do the water bottle and as I put it on the block, I lost control of it, but the air didn’t go out for some reason, but it popped instead.
Some of the M3 girls were walking a couple boys home and they were cute with their Bibles and kept saying, “Missy missy, you know I can pray and he will keep us safe.” “Missy, missy, you know we can pray and He can heal us.”

Peita – God was touching the people out in the audience as we were performing, but a neat thing was that God had spoken to the team before the night and most of the team was in tears just as God ministered to us.

Jeff – He was just aware as he was putting his routine together that he was thinking about what he would do. He suddenly had the understanding that it wasn’t about him at all, it was all about the people and them coming to know
Christ.

Lynn – Julie prayed for my ear and it is getting better. A young man came up and asked me to pray for his ankle he had twisted during the gripper. We believe that God is going to take us to a new level in healing.

Suli – Julie had given us a Word that we were to demonstrate the Father heart of God. The Lord directed me to a couple women who looked like a daughter and I asked if I could pray for them. She said yes. I asked where their husbands were, but they said that he had left them. It became clear to me that they had been hurt by this, but it gave me a chance to explain that God can be a Father to them.

Shey – was talking to three girls and they were talking about their family life. As they were talking about what happened to their Father, one of the younger ones said that he had drunk poison. Shey spoke to them “God knows what is going on inside of your heart and he wants to be a Father to you and he has his arms stretched out reaching to you.” Again, God was

Cape York Update 3. Some pictures!

Published by Josiah Ritner July 25th, 2008 in news. 0 Comments

Click on photos to enlarge photos!

Josiah’s half birthday

Published by Crissa Ritner July 25th, 2008 in news. 0 Comments

Sooo….Josiah’s half birthday is on December 25, Christmas Day. However he usually doesn’t have the day all to himself, go figure.

So I decided to celebrate a half birthday. Technically it’s June 25 but that’s too close to our anniversary, so I made it July 25. However, I’ll be gone at Cape York for outreach and won’t be here, so I celebrated his half birthday just before i left. LOL.

I gave him a few new clothes, and he also got an iTunes card! We had fun celebrating just him with no red or green. :)

Cape York Update 2. Stories from Napranum.

Published by Josiah Ritner July 22nd, 2008 in news. 0 Comments

Here are some stories from the first show of the tour. The show was in a small community called Napranum.



Napranum is marked by the red spot on the map. Crissa is doing really well. She is getting some amazing opportunities.
Napranum – remote indigenous community entirely Aboriginal and 15 minutes from Weipa on the Cape York Peninsula.
Population: 300
Attendance: 150
Decisions: 30
This was our first night of the tour and although we had all come from different places and had little chance to get to know one another, you wouldn’t have guessed when Mena stepped up to the microphone and the performance began. Some of the M3 dancers literally had only been in the country for the 48 hours it took to travel to Weipa, let alone had any kind of a chance to rehearse. It all came together nicely. The biggest thing that stuck out to me was it was as if hope was beaming out into the community all around us.

Sean – A couple of days before we left on the Cape York Tour, a group of us were praying. Our director encouraged us to pray and as I was praying a picture came to my mind. It was of an Aboriginal man with a long beard and a blue shirt. Tonight was our first performance night. As I was tearing phone books and smashing cans of soda, I saw the man in the crowd. When the message was being given and people were being encouraged to respond, I watched the man stand up and walk straight toward me. He walked up carrying his young daughter. He said that he wanted to change his own life, he wanted to change his family, and he wanted to change his community. I was able to pray for him and encourage him in this.

Tim/’Ale – As the evening drew to a close, an older Aboriginal man walked up to Tim and asked if he could meet the evening’s speaker, ‘Ale. His name was Ben, and he had been really touched by the message that ‘Ale had shared. After being introduced to ‘Ale, Ben started to share that he had actually not been at the meeting, but had been drinking a couple of blocks away. But the loudspeakers had carried the music and words all the way to him and his mates. He listened, and the words of Jesus’ love and the power of a relationship with God convicted him. Ben literally put his cup of liquor down, and even though he was drunk, he started walking to the meeting. As the ‘Ale asked for the folks who had raised their hands to come forward, Ben walked right into the meeting and simply continued on to the front to be prayed for. As Tim and ‘Ale were able to talk to him further, Ben shared that he had actually grown up in the church, had been a Christian, but after continued backsliding, simply walked away from God. But the night had brought a renewed sense of God’s love for him, and for this night, he was a new man again.

Mrs. Krahn – I sat by a lady name Heather who was the grandmother of 10 children and has 4 boys, one of whom is in prison. She was proud of her Aboriginal culture and a woman who has a passion for her people. She kept saying, “This is great! It’s so great for the kids! This is so great for our community!” As the show started she stood up and she said that she had to go get her son and bring him here. She just had to get him so he could watch this. Then, he was already there and as the program continued, he was one of the young people walking to the front to respond to Jesus.

Julie – For me, one of the greatest things of the night was watching some of the staff from Reef to Outback who don’t always get to do things like this, just shine in their giftedness. You should have seen Mena MCing the night. He was like Rudy, from Island Breeze who is so experienced, but it was Mena’s leading out. He had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand as if he had been doing this for 10 years or something. Crissa stepped up to the microphone and shared a testimony with such confidence and authority that I haven’t seen before. Sean just couldn’t stop talking about what God had done. As I stood in the dark watching what God had brought together, it just looked like hope and truth were beaming from the stage.

Jared – There was a man who was in his home cooking dinner. He just felt something inside tell him that he had to go to the show tonight. His sister said she could cook for him. He left his kitchen and came down to the field where we were performing. He had been in jail and at the end of his time there he had accepted Christ, but since getting out, he had still struggled with bitterness over thing that had happened. That night, the Lord truly set him free.
Mena – A lady came up to me after the show and thanked us for coming and said that she thought it was great for the community – and by the way, God healed me tonight. Then she left without any explanation. Later we found out that God had healed her of stomach pain as soon as Ale started speaking from the front.

Cape York Update 1-Visa’s and Tickets for Tongans-Video!

Published by Josiah Ritner July 21st, 2008 in news. 0 Comments

Have you ever gone to the airport without a ticket, believing God would provide?

We sent a strong man team on the cape york tour. There are five people from Tonga (an island in the south pacific) who are part of that team. It took a huge miracle to get those guys here. Below is the story of that miracle as well as a video of Ale one of the Tonga’s telling the story. It’s an unbelievable story. Click here to read the article and see the video .


Find more videos like this on YWAM – Australia Reef to Outback

On Friday, they had gone to the High Commission because they hadn’t heard back and time was running out and come to find out they hadn’t even looked at their applications.  To make a long story short, by the end of the day, they still had no visas.
Their plan was for Ale Aho , the team leader, to be there when the doors opened on Monday at 9am, but he also needed to check in for his flight by 10am at the airport half an hour away.  So, I was very curious to check my email this morning to find out what they had heard.  When I checked my email, they had all gotten their visas…at 8:30am.  I still don’t know how that happened.
But, they only had Ale’s ticket, the other four of them didn’t have money for flights, but they had all their bags packed and were going to the airport in faith.  Maybe someone would give them an envelope of money or something, but they felt like the Lord was directing them to go.  I have to admit that I didn’t know how that was going to turn out for them.
Yet, I was very curious to skype the phone number they had sent in the email.  I called and Lynn, Ale’s wife, answered the phone.  She was at the airport and she sounded like she had been crying.  I wondered what was going on.  Through the emotion, she told me how a man at the airport was paying for all the rest of their tickets. In fact, as I was talking to her, he was swiping his credit card.  She couldn’t finish the story because they were calling for them to board their flight.
I just heard from them again tonight, that he had also given them a handful of cash and that it’s probably enough to get them to Townsville tomorrow.  Just in time because we drive out of town on Wednesday morning.  I’ve just told everyone the story because it’s such a miracle after praying so long for them.  Thanks. It’s your story now, too!

Stories from Mission Adventures.Videos!

Published by Josiah Ritner July 21st, 2008 in news. 0 Comments

Here at YWAM Reef to Outback we just ran our first Mission Adventure program. It went really well. I was able to catch up with some of the guys that came up from Melbourne, and film some of there stories. Click here to watch them. Some of the guys saw God move in a big way in their lives. It’s great to be apart of it.

Mission Adventures is the ultimate missions experience for youth and young adults… and the ultimate resource for youth leaders, teachers and principles. Our motto is “We do the work. You do the ministry.” Our experienced staff will set up everything for your trip – food, accommodation, transportation, ministry opportunities, and training. All you need to do is show up with your group and get ready to watch your group’s hearts come alive as they engage their faith.



Find more videos like this on YWAM – Australia Reef to Outback



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YWAM Reef to Outback iNews Episode 16_Video.

Published by Josiah Ritner July 18th, 2008 in news. 0 Comments




I just finished up the latest version of the YWAM Reef to Outback iNews Episode 16. Crissa is the featured staff of the month, so she has an interview in the inews. Watch the video to hear her interview. Click here to watch the video!




Find more videos like this on YWAM – Australia Reef to Outback



Check out the latest episode of the YWAM Reef to Outback iNews. You’ll hear three stories from around YWAM Reef to Outback. We just sent a team on outreach up to cape york. They will be working in aboriginal community to bring love and hope to the people. You’ll meet Crissa Ritner, who is this months YWAM Reef to Outback featured staff. She talks a bit about who she is, and a cool opportunity she has to dance. We also take time to celebrate the life of Jeremy Earnshaw. Jeremy was on staff with YWAM New Castle. He recently died in a tragic ocean accident. Visit www.jeremyearnshaw.com





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