Missions Conference Time

Missions Conference time is always an exciting time as we look to hear from God; look forward to how God is going to provide the money for us to give; and see what God is doing through our giving on the mission fields all over the world! Being missionaries on furlough we are at many mission conferences... but they never grow old! The preaching is always good, along with the singing and fellowship... and the food! We love to go into these different churches and see them excited about missions!

A couple weeks ago we were at the missions conference of Bible Baptist Church in Attalla, Alabama. We have known this church since 2004 when we started out and we have been there for our annual missions board conference each year... along with Revival and Camp meetings. So it was great to be there again and see everyone.

Brother Richburg, missionary with Victory Baptist Press in Florida, was the main preacher of the week and the Lord used him in each of our lives in many ways as he preached God's Word.

We did the special music and so sang a few songs each service... that was a first for us but the Lord helped us and we love singing for our Saviour! At the end we formed a small choir of the Pastor's kids, a few other kids in the church and all of us older kids. That was a lot of fun to practice and sing together. If you know us... you know we love to sing!

The last day, Wednesday, us girls did a 'Kiwi' meal for the missionaries and church before service that night. It was a full day process to make that much food. Started with a big shopping trip and then a full afternoon of cooking. The Pastor's daughters and one other girl from church helped us and we had heaps of fun. We made Mince, Mince and Cheese, Steak and Cheese, and Steak and Mushroom pies and one casserole size Cottage pie. And, of course, chips and a big salad bar. For dessert we made a couple huge pavlovas and a couple banana cakes... two favorite Kiwi desserts.

We had a great week with the people of God there in Attalla and are thankful to them for there hospitality and friendship over the years.

Click below to see a few pictures we got off the phone from that week...

On the Road Again...

Hello Everyone! :)

Yes, we are on the road again for furlough/more deputation... and of course time for updates lately has been scarce; as it always seems to be. But we stay busy and love it!

The last few weeks in New Zealand were packed with much ministry/wrapping up or handing over ministries... along with packing and yard sales. It all went amazingly smooth but was very hard to leave all the dear people at church... Bible Club kids... Pukekohe North School... Auckland University Students... the people at the Rest Home... and many others. It's been an amazing four years watching God work and use us and we can't wait to get back... but for now we're enjoying our time home in the States! And though we are absent we know the Lord is still working in NZ! Actually, last week we got word that one of the University Students that we'd been witnessing to and praying for was Saved! That was so exciting to hear... there's nothing more thrilling then seeing people come to the Lord!

As for the actual move... It went smooth as well; and that was through God's help! Everything sold so fast... one weekend and it all was gone. The packing took a bit longer! ;) If you've never tried to get 16 suitcases and 11 carry-ons, plus instruments and computer bags to an exact weight and fit everything into them... well, then you've never experienced the fun we had those couple weeks! Hehe It was a crazy time, but we really did have fun working together!

We flew in on March 6^th... customs and all went very smooth and we managed to make the trip through the airports and 11 hours of flight time without loosing anything; or anyone, for that fact! :)

It was quite different getting back here... everything was different at first. Not that we minded.... it just took some getting used to. But we sure are enjoying all kinds of American conveniences and foods and all kinds of things! Pizza, Ice cream, coffee, English muffins, Sausage & Garvey, Grits, Chocolate, Cold Cereals, different fizzy's, Hoho cakes, pecans, hot cocoa, beans, tortillas... and on the list goes. We've been here for four weeks and still have things to try we haven't had in years. It's fun to go through and try it all again! We feel so spoiled in many ways.

We landed in California and since then have been in, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. We were able to visit with some old friends that are evangelist now in California and in Nevada we were at one of our supporting churches and also visited with a few of my Mom's siblings. Then we made the long trip across the USA and we've been in several other supporting churches which welcomed us amazingly.

Two weeks ago the Lord gave us the bus pictured at the beginning of this post. It's 40 feet long with three slide-outs... and those add a lot of space. Praise the Lord for that... he always provides what we need There was countless purchases we needed to make getting settled in here and our Lord has provided everything we've needed and more in so many different ways. It's so neat to see God take care of his children! What a blessing to serve the King of kings!

Forgive me if I'm being a bit wordy... but I know a lot of people said they've been waiting for updates. I'll post soon again, Lord willing!

I know over 1/2 of my readers are in NZ now... we love you all and miss you and pray for you each day! Keep living for Jesus, your Redeemer! :)

Click below to see some random pictures from our first few days here in the US. All I have is a camera phone right now so I don't have many pictures.

Bible in Schools - Year 1 Classes

     In New Zealand the primary schools (Years One through Six) have a Bible teacher in every week for a half hour. The school we teach at is also the school that we serve breakfast at every Monday morning for the kids. It is the poorest school in New Zealand with all kinds of untrained kids that run the streets and don't have many people to care about them. Most of our club kids are also from this school. It's been a great opportunity to work at this school as it has given us more of a presence there and it has given us a lot of opportunities to get to know the kids. I would be safe to say I know at least 80% of the kids at Pukekohe North School. We always go early before class and talk with the kids and play jump rope and sing songs! It's been one of the highlights of the ministry here in New Zealand.

     For the first two years that my Mom taught I helped her and took over a couple of times when she couldn't go. But this past school year (Our school year runs from February to November here.) I was privileged to have my own class. Actually, I taught two Year One classes because of a shortage of teachers. Five-year-olds were a new challenge for me as I've spent more time teaching and working with kids 8-12 here in New Zealand. But I had a lot of fun learning and came to love these little kids so much. My sister helped me out and she's great with kids. I taught the kids Creation the first quarter and really drove home that God created us, and all we see around us. Through the next two quarters I taught from Creation on through the book of Genesis... and there really is a lot of lessons in there that can be brought right down to there level. The last quarter I started with Jesus birth and then worked through his life. The kids learned a lot and could quote a couple verses by the end of the year; along with being able to answer questions from the whole year's worth of lessons. One other blessing is that I have a great class room teacher in one of the classes that sings the songs with the kids throughout the week and keeps things fresh in there minds.

     We had fun teaching them lots of songs and doing crafts with them as well. The kids enjoyed it when we would do a chalk drawings for them or bring our instruments to play for them. Actually, on those weeks we always ended up with at least 6-8 teachers in to listen to us draw or play! Praise the Lord... a lot of teachers got the gospel through that!

     It is our prayer that God will take the lessons, memory verses, songs and conversations we've had there at the school and bring them to mind through out these kids lives and that they will turn to Jesus and trust Him as their Saviour... as well as the teachers!

     Click below to see pictures!

Tuakau Christmas Parade

Two weeks ago (I know... late post) our church and Bible Club where in the Christmas Parade here in Tuakau. About 40 people from church and Bible Club turn up, which was a blessing. We had a great time sharing Jesus Christ with the people of Tuakau. 800 tracts and candy canes were distributed and many people read the signs. When we passed the judge she read the sign over the van on the loud speakers which read, "What is a man profited, if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" (Matthew 16:26) And then the sign Mercy was holding in the trailer which read, "We love him, because he first loved us." (1 John 4:19) Praise the Lord! :) 

So here's a heap of pictures from the day... I tried not to post too many, so as not to bore you all too much. :)

A Kiwi Thanksgiving

And you are thinking... what exactly is a 'Kiwi Thanksgiving?'

Well, it's summer here - which means hot. And so instead of the tradition Thanksgiving meal we had a church BBQ! About 27 of us there. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time of fellowship and thanking the Lord for all he has done for us! :)

 Dad cooking the hamburgers and sausages and fellowshipping with Pastor G. 

The kids love Brother Spackmens water wheel.

Mercy's Eleventh Birthday Party

:) Friends :)

Norah, Jacqueline, Nicolea, Paris, and Mercy

 Chicken Enchiladas was her request for dinner.

~

Mmm... they were good...

(Nothing like complementing your own cooking. :P But really, they were good!)

Ezra's looking at his plate wondering if that's all he gets. :P

 Norah showing the girls her games on her ipod.
The little girls enjoy her so much... she is always coming up and taking them out to play or something.

Time for gifts!

The best part of the party... right? Oh, wait, or is the best part the cake???

The dress Mama made for her!

And this picture didn't come out that good...

:)

Emmaline did a beautiful job on the ice cream cake!

Baptisms

This past Sunday we had four people who wanted to follow the Lord in believers baptism - Vicky, a girl from the University Bible Study; Brother Quilty, an older man from our church in Pukekohe; and Mercy and Malachi. It was so exciting to see these people take this step. We use a baptismal at a church about forty-five minutes north of Pukekohe, so there was several people from our church in Pukekohe, all those from Auckland Bible Baptist Church, and about 20 students from the University there. It was a great time of worshiping the Lord, watching these follow our Lord in believers baptism, and fellowship... oh, and food, we are Baptist! :) 

And to read my Dad's post about the day you can click on this link! :) It was a very busy Sunday with three church services and lots of driving and food prep and so on... but a exciting and very blessed Sunday! :) Praise the Lord! :)

And here is a few pictures form the day! :)

Vicky giving her testimony. She gave it in Chinese because all the students from the University are Chinese and because she's not great at English and neither are many of the students... and then Ethan translated it to English for the rest of us. 

 Vicky

 Mercy

 Malachi giving his testimony...

 ...and then being baptized.

Vicky and Mercy

 Brother Quilty, Vicky, Mercy and Malachi

A heap of students from the University and some Snyders talking.

 Shephine and Paris. 

(Stephine is a little girl from Auckland Bible Baptist Church and Paris is one of our club girls from Tuakau.)

 Little girls playing after tea.

 Emmaline and Joy(another girl from the Bible Study at the University.)

 Pastor Snyder and Pastor G fellowshipping over tea.

 Emmaline, Mercy, Vicky, Joy, Nicolea, and me(Jillian)

 Mrs. G and Vicky

And a random picture of Matthew leading music.

Paris and Mercy in there matching dresses for the day! :)

Bible Club Pictures

Hello Everyone! :) I just went through and pulled out a whole bunch of pictures from a couple of weeks ago at Bible Club for you all. So here you are...

 Laaquesha getting her certificate. She's up to Level 3 Card 3.

 Christian just finished Level 4 Card 4.

 Whiteora finished the first card of Level 2.

 Pastor Ted teaching. The kids have been so good and sat so quite and listened so intently for the past few weeks. Praise the Lord.

 Tylamei - She's a little girl from my Mom's Bible in Schools class.

 :) Linda :)

 A whole bunch of my little girls playing on the play ground... several of whom are or have been in our Bible in Schools classes.

The top row from left to right is Mercy(10), Jazmyn(10), Krystal(5), Patricia(7), Felicity(7)...

...and on the bottom is DJ(7), and Dimond(6). 

This little girl is in my Bible in Schools class now. When she was two she used to walk up the street by herself at seven in the morning to get something to eat at our house.  

Krystal... she's just a little doll! :) 

 Dimond and Felicity have been friends for couple years now.

 Super Dodge Ball

 DJ, Patricia, and Alicia

Victoria, Nicolea, and Mercy

And that's all for today...

A Evening with Some of the Collage Students

On Monday evenings we hold a Bible Study at the University of Auckland. (You can read my Dad's last update about it on The Snyders in New Zealand.) We've had four students coming regularly and several other have visited over the last couple months. So a few weeks ago we had a few of them down for the evening to have dinner and play some games and have some fun. The pictures didn't come out the best but I thought I'd share a few with you all. 

 Vicky teaching Emm how to use chopsticks!

All of us girls! 

Annie, Mercy, me, Mom, Emmaline, Vicky, and Nicolea

And in the front is Linda, Alicia, Felicity, and Unieqee 

 David, Matthew, Dad, Billy, Ezra, and Malachi (Who was thrilled with his height. lol)

 Annie sharing her cake with David.

They all loved him... as does everyone who meets him! :)

 Being from single child families in China they just love seeing a family and all the little ones.

 Not a very good picture... but we taught them how to play Uno.

 Nicolea and Vicky playing Connect Four.

And then Chinese Checkers of course. They taught us the Chinese rules; but then they wanted to know how Americans do it and play the way we do it.

There's not too much difference... our rules are a bit harder then Chinese rules.