4 Countries in the New Year: Spotlight Tara!
Hey Everyone,I hope that this update finds you all having a New Year filled with the revelation of God's love.
I just spent quite some time updating my own personal blog about the travels of the last few weeks. I thought it might be relevant here, so as with the update email, here is the link for my own blog and I will dedicate this space to Spotlighting Tara. Please Click on the picture below to transfer to the Update Page. This probably won't happen very often, but I think I would end up writing the same thing twice!
Spotlight Tara:
When I first met Tara, I had preconceived ideas coming from a couple of friends from my DTS who knew her. They were great expectations of a vibrant personality and an overall "coolness" that I myself do not possess. Getting to know her over the last few months has been great and she really is who they told me she was going to be.
Tara did her DTS in Samoa (Pacific Islands) in 2005. She was originally planning on doing the PhotogenX DTS at the same time in Kona with Paul and Suzi, but she was told that there was a Pioneer DTS program in Samoa, so she signed up for it. It was an experience that changed the course of her life (big surprise, right?). They had their lectures in the middle of nowhere, no civilization to keep them comfortable. When we are comfortable it is hard to be stretched by God and others because we have so much else to lean on. She experienced God's heart on that small Island, getting prepared for what He had for her on outreach.
Her team spent a month in Tahiti and did a lot of prayer walking. Eventually they got involved in doing a VBS for the islanders on the Tahitian Island of Morrea. They couldn't renew their visas in Tahiti, so they prayed and God led them to New Zealand. It was here that Tara knew God's calling on her life. They had spent some time in ghetto's of South Auckland. It is a melting pot - Islanders from the surrounding islands like Samoa, Tonga, Solomon, and others travel through New Zealand, but get stuck in a less than appropriate lifestyle. They spent some time working with the youth as well as the elderly in the community.
After their time there, they went to Wellington, Tara's second home. They spent their time working with a local pastor, a single mom who was a mother to all of the kids in the community. Tara was so impacted by the time that she spent there, she traveled back by herself for another 3 months for discipling and experience. God shaped her vision for youth leadership as a calling on her life.
She is now working towards opening a coffee house/studio where she would be able to speak into the lives of the young people in a community, challenging them by her art to see outside themselves into the world and the impact that love can have on it. PhotogenX is part of that. She had a few different opportunities after coming back from New Zealand (the second time) but ended up applying for the PhotogenX program. She hopes that she can get a greater worldview, relating to the world on a bigger level, a more complete level. Experience can be empowering, not only in the personal aspect, but a relational one. In a way, it gives validity to challenges that you present to those around you. Ideology moves to reality. With the experience that she gets, she wants to be relevant in the youth around her, turning sometimes bland adolescent Christianity into something that breathes.
One of the most moving experiences came a couple weeks ago when we were learning about sacrifices in the Old Testament. We had a real live example of what Christ did for us, when we watched a goat slaughtered and prepared in a similar way that they Israelites would have. When Tara cries, she is moved, and she cried that day because she was reminded of God's gift. She said that it's good to be reminded of Christ every now and then, kinda like watching the Passion of the Christ every now and then. So often we live our lives as if nothing happened or that Jesus was always in the "buddy" role and not our sacrifice.
Tara loves to walk with God. Over Christmas break she went to Rome... by herself. She describes it as one of the best times she has ever had. Instead of a person going with her to all of the sights, she walked with God all day everyday. It kind of reminds me of when Jesus went to the mountain to pray and how important that was for Him, to connect with His Father. We all need that, but so often don't take the time out of our schedules to do so.
For your advice, she had a few things:
"Don't take life for granted... like anything"
and she also gave me one of her favorite quotes, one that resonates within me as well.
"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probably explanation is that i was made for another world". ~C.S. Lewis
Lewis is putting words to that feeling that nothing in this world can satisfy, the need to be close to our Father. We are in this world, but our citizenship, our true origin and family is the Kingdom.
Thanks for your prayers and thoughts for us.
All for Christ
John Paul
Labels: Advocate, Awaken, Jesus, justice, Missions, PhotogenX, Photography, the least, voice for the voiceless, world
posted by PhotogenX Round the World @ 8:48 AM
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